


Lock Necklace

by ultncts



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, CLC, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Gay Sex, K-Pop - Freeform, Lesbian, Love, M/M, Slow Burn, blackpink - Freeform, fashion - Freeform, markhyuck, nct - Freeform, soft, taeyong - Freeform, yeeun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-01-03 08:44:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultncts/pseuds/ultncts
Summary: One works for Louis Vuitton, one works for an independent skate shop, one has a crush, one has a girlfriend.





	1. ONE

**Author's Note:**

> wow, I haven’t posted a story in SO long. I got very busy with my graphic design class and my job. I am sorry. I want to thank everyone for all the love I received on my markhyuck fic “pochette”. I love that story and I’m glad many people loved it. This fic is a little different, more mature and angsty?? I hope you enjoy. I will be posting the updates for it every few days. Please enjoy!

Its a Sunday, and the weather is foggy and cold outside. That meant inside of the store is empty and cold. No matter how much expensive leather surrounded him, Donghyuck still feels dim, with goosebumps sitting on his skin.

He wants something exciting to happen, some drama, maybe a customer kicking off about the price of an item, or someone trying to steal. Yet nothing happened, the store stayed empty, the cold stone around him radiated a chill, the black fancy suit that hugged his frame didn’t offer enough warmth, and the slick brown metal name tag that rested on his chest was itching his skin. 

“Donghyuck, put a smile on that pretty face of yours.” Donghyuck’s manager appears from around the corner, seemingly eyeing up a suspecting pair of teens looking at the new range of handbags in the corner. “The customers want to see a happy face, or they aren’t going to buy a thousand dollar bag from you.” 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes and put a fake smug smile on his face as his manager stood beside him. Taeyong wasn’t your typical manager, he only got access to the role due to his dad being a mega rich half French fashion designer, and his love for bossing people around. Yet he was nice, and understanding, most of the time. It helped they weren’t so different in ages, and they shared many common interests. 

“There’s only two customers in the store” Donghyuck resorted back. “We are Louis Vuitton, and in the middle of Seoul, don’t you think we’d be a little busier?”

“It’s that time of the year, everyone’s on vacation, and it’s already past six in the evening” Taeyong shrugged, running a hand through his black hair. “Remember to do your stock take before we close, you don’t have too long”. 

Donghyuck nodded, at least it would give him something to do to make the time go faster. Taeyong went to approach the teens and succeeded in making a sale, they both brought a bag and left with a smile. He hated that he was slightly judgemental of people who come into the store, he assumes they are ‘just browsing’ because they don’t look like they would typically buy something from such a high end brand. 

Donghyuck continues with his stock take, recording numbers and figures on the iPad, he glanced at the clock, twenty minutes till close, twenty minutes until he could go home. He breathed a sigh of relief, his stomach is grumbling and he suddenly craves milk chocolate. Taeyong walks past, glanced at the iPad, pats his shoulder and continues towards his office. The other coworker on shift is upstairs, Yuta, probably setting the layout for tomorrow and arranging the T-shirt’s he favours to the front of the rack, he can hear him singing along to the American pop song that is playing subtly on the overhead speakers. 

He closes the iPad when he’s done, and slides it back underneath the desk. When he brings his head back up, he sees someone walk through the door. 

He wants to roll his eyes, what customer comes in 10 minutes till they close? He just wants to go home. And devour himself in chocolate and maybe a cider, or cup of hot tea. That state of mind changes as he views the customer who is pattering across to his desk. A young boy, layered in a baby pink hoodie three sizes to big for him, and ripped jeans. He is holding a skateboard under his left arm. 

It makes Donghyuck’s chest feel warm. He’s a sucker for cozy boys, ones with fluffy brown hair and baggy clothes, the kind of boys you wanna cuddle and drown yourself in their sent all day long. Very much like the one heading in his direction. He can feel his mood lifting just from the look of the customers button nose. 

“Hey man” The boy is out of breath, one hand falling onto the desk Donghyuck is situated behind. He stares at him, his eyes wide and bright. “I know your closing soon, I’m sorry I just finished my shift”

Suddenly Donghyuck doesn’t care if his shift is ending soon or not. He wants to listen to the boys accented Korean for a while, he has a nice voice. 

“No worries, what are you after?” Donghyuck smiles back, which seems to ease the boys awkward stance. “I’ll see if I can help you before we close.”

The boy nods and pulls out a phone from his pink pocket. Donghyuck notes that the screen needs replacing. “I’m looking for a present for someone, they mentioned they really like this necklace”

He turns the screen around, and Donghyuck has to squint to see the photo behind the cracked glass. He also notes that the boy has his phone set to English, and that one of his finger nails is painted black. 

“Ah the lock necklace” Donghyuck scoots over behind the desk to where the glass segment starts, and where the jewellery is placed behind. “This one right here?” 

The customer, the very cute customer, Donghyuck thinks of him, follows the neatly kept nail to the lock necklace. “Yes! But she said that the silver one would match her jewellery more”

Donghyuck gets a pang of jealousy at the “she”. A girlfriend maybe? Donghyuck has a tendency to assume things, a cute boy with painted nails walks into a fashion store, must be a little gay right? Maybe he’s just a little lonely. He pretends the guy is buying for his sister. 

Donghyuck nods, and scans the stock checker quickly to see if the silver one is out in the stock room behind Taeyong’s overly large office, it’s not. “I’m really sorry but we don’t have that one in store today”

The boy sticks out is bottom lip a little. “I guess I’ll just take the gold one then, thank you sir”

“You said she wears silver right?” Donghyuck rolls his eyes playfully, now the customer does sound like a straight teen boy. “Also please don’t call me sir, I’m probably younger than you”

They both laugh, and Donghyuck notes that the other boy has very small, cute teeth. His chest hurts; he is so lonely, everything about the boy makes him crave a cuddle. 

A nod. “Then don’t buy the gold, it won’t match, girls hate it when their jewellery doesn’t match, and if your spending so much money on a necklace don’t you want her to wear it?”

He nods again but doesn’t fully understand. “I can order the silver one in for you, it should be here in two days”

“Okay, I guess that could work. Her birthday isn’t for another month” His hand is still placed on the desk, his cracked phone laying on its back next to it. “Do I need to give you my number?”

Donghyuck nods, and leans down to grab the iPad to complete the order. As he does, he sees Taeyong appear from the office, now wearing his black on black Louis Vuitton printed suit jacket. He gestures to his watch, telling Donghyuck to wrap it up with his gesture and heads to lock the door to stop any other late customers coming into the store. 

“What’s your name? So I can put it in for the order” Donghyuck gestures towards the screen, pointing towards the white screen. 

“Mark Lee” He says and Donghyuck types it in. Mark, hmm, that must be why he has his phone in English, he must be from abroad. “And that’s my number here”

“Okay perfect, you will get a text when your order is ready to collect, if I’m here, which I probably will be just head to my desk, you will pay when you get here” Donghyuck informs the boy, who he know knows as Mark as he hits complete on the order, and it prints out a ticket, which he hands him. 

“Thank you so much man, my girlfriend is going to love you” Mark laughs, and the girlfriend sends a pang into Donghyuck’s chest. He always gets like this, though, when cute boys come to buy things for their significant others. He knows that he craves it. “I’ll see you then”. 

“Thank you Mark, if I’m not here when you come to collect it, I hope she loves it” Donghyuck watches the boy walk towards the door, where Taeyong is standing to unlock it for him. The boy waddles slightly, and his worn-out white vans squeak against the marble floor. He leaves, giving a small ‘thank you wave’ to Donghyuck behind the glass of the door and disappears into the darkness. 

“Straight or gay?” A voice breaks Donghyuck’s trance, causing him to jump from his skin. Yuta had snuck up behind him, and clasped a hand over his shoulder. 

“Straight, order for his girlfriend” Donghyuck huffs, shaking Yuta’s hand off his skin in a grump. 

“Shucks, Hyuckie, don’t worry, one day a super hot gay will walk through those expensive, expensive doors and sweep you off your feet”

“Easy for you to say, not everyone can suck their bosses dick every night” Donghyuck jokes, placing the iPad away and locking the cabinet door, and then does the same for the jewellery cabinet. 

“Aye, shut up or I’ll break your neck” Donghyuck feels a slap to his head, and Taeyong peacefully walks past and back into the office, not shy enough for Donghyuck to see the wink Taeyong sends Yuta. 

“You guys can leave when your ready, I’ll see you tomorrow” Taeyong says as the door closes behind him.


	2. TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter already! I already love this story. Don’t forget to leave kudos and a comment. Sorry if this seems awkward, I’m still getting into the swing of writing again, it’s been nearly 2 years!

The air is cold around donghyuck’s nose, it made it run, trickle past his nostrils, but then it would freeze up. He hates this month; October, simply for its confused weather. It’s cold in the mornings, so cold he has to layer on a hoodie and coat, but then when it hits midday it’s too warm, and he has to undress himself again.

The sun was is just beginning to rise, and although Donghyuck dislikes the October weather, he couldn’t complain about the warm orange and pink sunrises that illuminate against the high rise buildings every morning he walks to work. He enjoys the smell of autumn, how some leaves from the edges of the street blow into the busy road, how in the mornings everything seemed so peaceful, so beautiful.

most stores are closed still, it isn’t even nine in the morning yet. donghyuck takes this time to observe some of the stores he never gets time to shop in.   
He spots one that he’s never really noticed before, on the edge of the road slightly hidden by a high rise sushi restaurant. He can just make out the scraggly writing on the sign; “kickerz skate”. It makes Donghyuck laugh slightly, what a silly name for a store. He keeps giggling to himself, until he sees two young boys running towards the doors, one holding keys in their hands and pushing them into the slim, beaten door. It doesn’t take a second for him to recognise one of the boys, his brown fluffy hair and pink hoodie give it away, it was the boy who ordered the lock necklace from the store yesterday. He feels his heart go slightly warm.

Before he has chance to even take it in, Mark and the other, blonde haired boy, bundle into the warmth of the store, and the door closes behind them. Donghyuck pouts, he’s unsure of why he finds the previous customer so indicting. It’s the fluffy hair, he tells himself. Definitely the fluffy hair.

“You’re a minute late” Yuta says as Donghyuck approaches the store. Their store is large, the biggest one on the street, it’s three stories high and it sits in the middle of a separated bank in the road. “Taeyong’s already inside waiting for us, he’s cranky”

“If he’s inside why are you out here and not making out with him on his desk?” He jokes, but still gets a slap from the elder anyway as he uses the key pad to unlock the door. “Ya! That’s what you usually do”

“I went to his last night, he made me go and get coffee ten minutes ago but the starbucks is still shut” Yuta shrugs, as they both enter the store, the marble floor still slippery from the cleaners that mop early in the morning.

“Morning Hyuckie” donghyuck spots Taeyong sticking his head out from behind a rack of accessories, his hair stuck up in random places and his nose still red from the cold. “Yuta! Where’s my coffee, you brat!”

Donghyuck ignores the following bickering, and heads towards the back area of the store to put away his bag and put on his name tag. He spots the other assistant manager sitting in the office, Jisoo, she waves at him tiredly and mutters a small good morning. She’s not one for talking. Just getting her money and going, but donghyuck likes her, she’s kind and sneaks candy into his cashier.

-

The day goes by quickly, it’s a Tuesday, so tourists have just landed in the city and teens are ditching classes to shop, this means the store is busy and donghyuck has made nearly seventy thousand pounds worth of sales already, but that’s not hard, the items are very expensive.

“Hey yong, has that silver lock necklace been delivered yet?” he asks as he tidies the key chains that hang on his desk. “I told a customer it would be delivered today.”

Taeyong shrugs, sliding off his expensive Louis Vuitton jacket and hanging it on the door handle to the office. “I’ll go check for you”

Seconds later, Taeyong reappears, holding a gift wrapped box, covered in a white wrapper with the brown Louis Vuitton logo printed all over. “Merry Christmas”

“Thanks” donghyuck beams, taking the box from his managers hand. “I’ll text Mark now”

“Wow, your on a first name basis already?” Taeyong laughs loudly, grabbing the attention of a few American tourists who linger their stare, making Taeyong’s face turn a dark shade of red. “My little hyuck has a crush, huh?”

“Not like that” Donghyuck pouts, pulling out the iPad to send off the alert that his order is in stock. “He’s cute, I get a crush on everyone who is cute.”

The alert is sent. Donghyuck gets excited, he hopes he’ll see the cute fluffy haired boy again today, because he’s lonely and Mark is cute. Mark would brighten his day, he thinks.

“anyway, you’re my manager, stop saying things like this or I’ll tell HR about you and Yuta having sex on top of the luxury handbags” Donghyuck retorts, winking at Taeyong as he disappeared into he office again, flicking a finger in his direction.

“What are you and Taeyong arguing about now?” Once again, Yuta had snuck up behind him, pressing a hand against his shoulder. “God Taeyong looks so hot today, don’t you think?”

“No” Donghyuck rolls his eyes, waiting for Yuta to leave. “Go help those customers”

Yuta rolls his eyes, skipping towards the American tourists, so very gay of him, but it makes them laugh, which may ultimately lead to a sale.

An hour passes, donghyuck sells a wallet, but nothing else.

There’s still no sign of mark, which makes him sad. He wants flirt, in a friendly way, of course, mark has a girlfriend. The store will be closing in an hour, and the sky is getting dark outside, a ribbon of crimson falling behind the buildings as the sun disappears. The sunset makes Donghyuck tired, he wants to go home and snuggle into his bed, watch reruns of Glee on Netflix and FaceTime his best friend, Jaemin, but he still has another hour of his shift left, then a fifteen minute walk home.

As donghyuck begins to wipe down his desk with a napkin, collecting the dust and paper receipt left overs, he can hear the familiar sound of white squeaky shoes, and he can hear Yuta whistle lowly from his position upstairs, his head hanging over the open balcony with a smug, open mouthed smile on his dumb face.

It’s mark, in the same pink hoodie as the previous time, shuffling towards Donghyucks desk. He composes himself, but he can’t help the small smile that illuminates on his face. “Hi! here for the necklace?”

He knows what he’s here for. He’s been thinking about it all day, but he has to seem professional. The boy nods, pulling his large backpack, that had holes on the bottom out onto the floor.

“Sorry I didn’t come sooner, man, work was busy today” Mark explains, slightly out of breathe as he pulls out a wallet. It’s old and tatty too, and donghyuck assumes that’s just his style. “How much is it again?”

donghyuck feels sad that Mark seems to be rushing the transaction, because he’s lonely and wants to talk to him, he also wants to reach out and touch his curly hair and ask him what shampoo he used, but he refrains from doing so.

“It’s five hundred and forty” donghyuck explains, pulling out the iPad and then opening the case behind him to take out the necklace. “You have to sign some things before you can pay, for insurance and stuff”

“God, she better love me for spending this much on a necklace” Mark huffs, still slightly out of breath. “you aren’t closing soon? I feel bad keeping you”

donghyuck holds out a hand and presses it against the skater boy’s forearm, the other seems shocked at this, he has always been touchy, it shocks some people, so he pulls it back behind the desk “It’s fine, you have about an hour until we close!”

The other smiles happily, his frantic state calming down slightly. Maybe that’s why he seemed to be in a rush, he felt bad? At least that’s what donghyuck wants to believe. He pulls out the contract sheet, placing it on the table along with a golden plated pen.

“Golden pens? Is everything about this store so rich?” Mark laughs, and it echoes through the store, it pounds through donghyucks ears and chest.

“You have a nice laugh” donghyuck didn’t mean to say that. His eyes widen, “that sounded creepy, I’m sorry”

Mark laughs even more, his eyes glistening happily, taking the pen from the table and filling out the sheet. His hand writing is straggly, like the rest of him. “It’s fine, you have a nice laugh too”

They make small talk for a while as Mark fills out the information. It takes him longer than usual, if donghyuck didn’t know he was buying it for his significant other, he would take this as flirting. Mark laughs at his pathetic puns, and asks him about his life. This is flirting right? At least Donghyuck knows he’s flirting to Mark, even if it’s not being returned.

“You live here in Seoul?” Mark asks, looking at his screen to ‘double check his postcode’. “Or are you student living?”

“I live in an apartment by Hongdae” donghyuck explains, and marks eyes widen.

“Alone? How old are you?”

“Yeah, I moved here from jeju island last year when I turned twenty. My manager asked me to come work here so I decided to move to the city, it was all so very exciting” donghyuck nods, he feels awkward talking about his wealth with the other, he doesn’t want the other to feel as though he is bragging. “You can come visit my apartment if you want for a beer some day, I have a great view”

Maybe the wink was a bit much because mark laughs awkwardly, yet his cheeks turn a deep shade of pink. Adorable, it makes donghyuck heart swell. “How about you? Are you a student?”

He finishes filling the sheet, but doesn’t release the pen. “Yeah, I’m in my second year of music studies at Seoul music university, I still live with my parents an hour outside of Seoul”

“You play music?” Great. Another attractive quality.

“Yeah, when I come round for a beer I can play a song for you” Mark winks back, donghyuck breath hitches, oh how much he would love that. “That was a joke man, sorry, I am so awkward”

Donghyuck laughs, this time it’s his laugh radiating across the store. “It’s fine, are you done with the sheet?”

Mark nods, handing over the pen, and he pays. They both laugh again when mark tries tapping his card as contactless three times despite the price of the item being way over thirty dollars. donghyuck feels sad when he hands the item over, and he pouts when mark waddles out of the store, leaving nothing but the sound of his squeaking shoes replaying in donghyucks mind.

He sighs, watching the boy throw his skateboard on the floor and disappear down the street faster than he could even mutter a goodbhe. He won’t be coming back, after this. It’s a shame, donghyuck thinks, he was very kind.

When donghyuck closes up the store with the help of Jisoo, she talks about how she’s going to dinner with her fiancé that night, some fancy man from busan with way too much money, it explains her eleven thousand dollar Rolex watch that sits prettily on her pale wrist. It makes him sad, he knows he’s only young, but the same word repeats around his brain constantly, lonely lonely _lonely_. He wants _someone_.

When he goes to grab his bag, he’s unfortunately met with taeyong and Yuta both leaving the bathroom with shy faces, yuta’s belt unbuckled and Taeyong’s wrists baring indents from yuta’s fingernails, donghyuck mutters a “gross” before grabbing his backpack and leaving as quick as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t forget to leave kudos and a comment! <3


	3. THREE

The week went by slowly, the weather got colder and the nights got longer. donghyuck found himself working an extra shift at the store, to help a new member of staff; a young teen called chenle who moved to Korea from china to study classical arts and film. Taeyong met chenle at a family gathering, where his wealthy farther introduced taeyong to chenle and his family, a few weeks ago. 

There was one day, where donghyuck had to stay late at work to help rearrange the new high heels that had been delivered with the help of a very sleepy, hungover yuta. That night, on his short walk back to his apartment, he spotted mark leaving the skate shop alone, his nose illuminating red due to the cold underneath the lucid street lights, donghyuck could see it from the other side of the street. Although it was probably strange, donghyuck wanted to go over and say hi, ask him if he has received the insurance details for the product in the post yet as an excuse to talk to him. 

However, he didn’t, he didn’t have chance, because mark was met by a girl, whose frame was covered in a long brown jacket, and boots. The girl grabbed his free hand, the one that wasn’t grasping at his skateboard, and pulled him onto the 345 bus that headed towards dongmak-ro. As donghyuck walked past the still bus that was still greeting passengers, he could have sworn for a moment that he saw mark look down at him with his glistening eyes, he could’ve sworn he saw a hand lift up to wave, but the bus spun away before donghyuck could even have chance to comprehend it. 

—

Now a week later, donghyuck finds himself walking down the streets of hangang, his arm linked with jaemins, his close friend who used to work at the store with him. With them was yuta and taeyong, and taeyong’s close friend, Johnny. He had never met Johnny before, but from the look of his expensive man-bag and clean cut nails, he assumed he was a rich family friend. 

“Are you excited to partaaaaaay?” he felt a hand wrap around his shoulders, the taller Japanese boy slowing down to match his pace. “god, we work so hard, i am gonna get smashed”

“yuta, the only thing that’s gonna get smashed is your head on the sidewalk if you don’t stop annoying me” donghyuck shrugs him off, “i just want to sleep, i’m only here because taeyong invited me and I don’t want to get fired”

“you’ll have fun, I heard this club is very popular with gay guys” yuta claps his hands, donghyuck wonders if he’s not cold, just wearing a fishnet shirt and a tank top layered over, he assumes the leather pants locks in his warmth. “maybe I can find you a hot date”

donghyuck ignores the remark, as much as he would like someone to court him, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be courted nightclub, the smell of sweat radiating in his nostrils. Even as he steps into the club, he’s met with the pounding sound of american drum and bass, and the mingling of bodies on his. It definitely wasn’t his type of scene, but he bats taeyong a thumbs up to make him happy. 

He thanks the lord that him and his friends have wealth the moment he steps into the vip lounge taeyong has booked out in the back of the club. The purple plush seats are much more riveting than the cold seats of the bar up front. 

“what do you want to drink?” johnny asks everyone, even donghyuck. “I’ll pay for the first round”. 

taeyong and yuta ask for the fanciest cocktail, but donghyuck politely asks for something a little less extravagant, maybe a fruit ale, or cider. Johnny nods, and squeezes his tall frame out from the vip lounge and past the purple rope that segregates them from the rest of the club. His eyes follow the american, watching him patter down towards the bar, he notices johnny stop by a group of party goers, even diving down for a hug for one of them. donghyuck eyes widen, it can’t be, surely, no, it’s mark. 

donghyuck can feel his chest go somewhat tight, fluttering around his heart. The boy looks different to how he appeared when he visited the store, his pink hoodie has been replaced with a slick black leather jacket and his ripped jeans are subsided with black skinny pants. he looks good, so good donghyuck can feel his mouth water. is this what it feels like to truly like someone? donghyuck ponders, not taking his eyes away from them. No, he thinks, you don’t even know the guy. 

“what are you staring at?” jaemin pops over donghyuck’s shoulder, trying to take a peek. 

“just observing, I’ve never been here before” donghyuck lies, watching jaemin fall back into the seat, his white hair flopping around his eyes. jaemin shrugs and begins talking to another person who has joined the lounge that donghyuck doesn’t know. 

when donghyuck’s eyes try and spot johnny and mark again, he struggles to find them for a while, until he can see johnny holding a tray of drinks, heading back towards the booth. Though he isn’t alone, donghyuck has to squint, but sure enough mark is heading towards the booth with him, the same girl from the bus with him. fuck, fuck fuck fuck, donghyuck thinks, his cheeks are already burning red. 

when mark spots donghyuck, his eyes widen, then squint, then widen again, as though he’s trying to make sense of where he recognises him from. “oh hey man!”

ah, he recognised him, much to his girlfriends dismay, who just frowns at the interaction. He can hear johnny muttering to the others that he knows mark from university, and they all greet him with a wave. 

“your the that sold me the n-“ mark cuts himself off, sliding down onto the booth, girlfriend in tow. “necklace” he whispers it into donghyuck’s ear, his breath is hot and musky, and it smells like beer and vodka. donghyuck can tell he is tipsy, even from the goofy expression on his face. 

“yeah! how are you?” donghyuck replies, taking a sip of the cider johnny got for him, johnny definitely added a dapple of vodka to his drink. “is this your girlfriend?” 

“I’m drunk, a little” the skater boy laughs heavily, and leans back to show his girlfriends face, donghyuck notices mark has one hand on her thigh. god he wishes that were him. “Yes, this is my girlfriend, yeeun”

the girl waves slightly, yet her face doesn’t show any form of interest. “yeeun, this is.... man I swear I know your name, I cant remember the name tag”

“donghyuck” he holds out a hand to shake yeeun’s but she doesn’t obey, she sniggers, shaking her head slightly. 

“cute name” mark whispers in donghyuck’s ear one more, and pats his girlfriend on the bum as she goes to dance with a cocktail in her hand. “you look nice”

donghyuck’s cheeks turn crimson, is mark flirting? or is he just very drunk? donghyuck decides its the latter. 

as the night goes on, and donghyuck gets more and more drunk, his vision blurs and his speech falters. he finds himself dancing with mark, and he even felt marks hand on his hip from behind, squeezing it in the back corner of the longue. donghyuck was too drunk to comprehend what this meant, or how it made him feel. he just knew he wanted to kiss mark, but the scowl he received from the girlfriend all night proved that wouldn’t happen no matter how much he wished it would. 

taeyong was making out with yuta in the back too, hidden behind one of the speakers, mark pointed to them as he necked a shot of gin, licking his lips while staring donghyuck in the eyes. donghyuck was confused, flirting again? teasing him? with his girlfriend just meters away? no, he tells himself. he is just drunk. mark is straight, and he is just lonely. 

—

when donghyuck wakes up the next morning, he can already feel the sunlight seeping through his curtains. his head pounds already, and his throat is dry, like sandpaper. he cant remember much from the night before, only that mark kept making small touches to his skin, disappearing to make out with his girlfriend, and reappearing to do a body shot on donghyuck’s collar bone, then he must’ve blacked out. 

he peels his eyes open slowly, and bends his head to look at the alarm clock beside him. Ten in the morning, not so bad. He thanks the lord that he isn’t working today, and pities yuta who would’ve started work an hour ago. donghyuck suddenly feels cold, and he touches the goosebumps on his chest to realise that he didn’t end up changing into his pyjamas last night. 

and then he feels something shuffle next to him. a body, he feels a pair of boney feet touch his leg, and he hears a yawn. oh fuck, oh holy fuck, he thinks. He begins to panic, squeezing his eyes shut. he begs he didn’t have a one night stand, he begs he didn’t loose his virginity to some creep who only came back because he was drunk. he begs it was just jaemin, though he knows it not, jaemin would always sleep in the spare bedroom. 

“man where am I?” it wasn’t jaemin, and donghyuck can recognise the accent from a mile away, his head snaps to the side to meet eyes with mark, whose brown hair is sticking up in all directions. he breathes a sigh of relief when he notices they are both still fully clothed, but mark looks panicked, his eyes widening when met with the sleepy face of donghyuck, and he sits up in bed faster than the speed of light. “oh shit, how did I end up here?”

“hi” Donghyuck laughs, hiding half his face in the cashmere black sheet of his bed. “this is... interesting”

mark laughs too, luckily. donghyuck breathes a sigh of relief that he isn’t mad, he was here, in his bed, without his girlfriend. strange, for both of them. 

“now I remember crashing here, the taxi said my house was too far” mark hums, stretching his arms up high into the air. “I’m so sorry man, I’ll grab my things and leave”

“you don’t have to leave straight away” donghyuck shocks himself by saying this, is he too forward? the look on the scraggly boys face is unreadable. “I can make you some breakfast, and then call you a taxi, you need an hour to gather your bearings after drinking so much.”

mark nods, a small smile creeping onto his face. “I guess so, won’t that be a little weird? we are strangers”

donghyuck shrugs, throwing himself up and slings his legs over the bed, sliding on his pair of fendi slippers. “you slept in my bed, I’m pretty sure I remember your arm cuddling me, I think we are more than strangers now”

mark nods, following donghyuck’s lead. 

“do you have pancakes?” mark asked, standing up. god donghyuck thought he looked beautiful, his small face slightly swollen, yet warm and squishy. his mouth was pink from sleep, and his fluffy hair fluffier than donghyuck could ever have imagined it to be. And he slept in his bed. The cute customer who brought the lock necklace woke up in his bed, he can’t believe it. 

“sure mark, I can make some pancakes.”

—

The pancakes are not that great, if donghyuck is being honest with himself. He burnt them, but mark eats them without complaining, mark even says that they tasted very nice, which makes donghyuck feel warm inside, yet he knew he was lying when mark leaves half of it uneaten on his China plate. 

they speak casually, they spoke mostly about the night before. It was awkward, sure, but it was also interesting, donghyuck learns a lot about the other, he learnt that he spends a lot of time playing guitar, and if he’s not doing that he likes to read poetry. 

it was now nearly midday, the sun was blaring beautifully through the large rectangular windows that sat on the walls of donghyuck’s apartment. donghyuck is standing in the kitchen, sitting on the counter closest to the fridge, mark is sitting on the other side of the island, on one of the steel bar stools taeyong had gifted him last year. 

mark is drinking from a bottle of water, his hair was still stuck up in every direction, and he is frowning down at his phone, sighing. 

“something making you mad?” donghyuck asks , he still felt shy, but he was surprised at how comfortable he had come with the other boy in such a small amount of time. He really liked mark, he is sweet, he smells like apple shampoo, and his laugh is pretty. 

“it’s yeeun” mark notices donghyuck’s raised eyebrow, as if to say, ‘who?’ “My girlfriend, you met her last night”

“ah, the girlfriend” donghyuck nods. He hates the pit of jealously he gets in his stomach. He has to remind himself mark is just a friend, or even a friend for just a day, he worries that he might not see mark again after he leaves today. “is she being mean, do I have to fight someone?”

mark laughs brightly, locking is phone and angrily dumping it on the marble island top. “she’s mad because I disappeared last night”

“you did? I don’t remember anything after you made me take a shot out of your collarbone” donghyuck can see marks small, pixie shaped ears turn red from embarrassment, but he giggles none of the less. 

“I think she got mad because I was spending time with you and johnny, even though she was spending time with her friends too” donghyuck can clearly see it was upsetting mark, he wondered why, they seemed so happy running to the bus a few days before-hand. “she can piss off today, anyway, I’m gonna run a bath when I get home, read a book and sleep away this hangover”

“you don’t get along?” donghyuck mutters, trying to sound as casual as possible, but really he wanted to gossip. “she seemed a little mean last night, in the nicest way I can put it.”

donghyuck jumps down from the counter he’s situated on, taking the dirty, half eaten pancake plate from in-front of mark to the sink. He can’t help but notice the way mark looked up at him, his eyes bright and glaring. 

“we do, we do” marks voice is high, unconvincing, donghyuck didn’t believe him. “We are just very, very, how do do I say this—“

“different?”

“Yeah, different”. 

donghyuck nods understandably, putting the freshly washed dish in the overhead cupboard. They sit in a comfortable silence, donghyuck can feel marks eyes lingering on him as he closed the cupboard and poured himself a glass of water. 

“thank you for having me, donghyuck, even though you probably had no choice as we were hammered, I should probably get going” mark sighs, pulling himself off the bar-stool. “what’s the nearest bus stop to here?”

donghyuck clearly feels his chest go heavy. Why doesn’t he want the boy to leave? Truthfully, he knows he has a dumb crush. He felt silly, but he just wanted to spend some time with mark, he is lonely, he knew that. 

donghyuck takes a look at mark who had now just stood up, his clothes from the night before are wrinkled, and his black shirt had an obvious stain from some sort of alcoholic beverage. “you can’t go out looking like that”

mark gasps, in fake upset. It makes donghyuck laugh, again, he notices he’s been doing a lot of laughing, today. “my bathroom is just down there, and you know my bedroom, go choose a hoodie or something to wear while I book you a taxi”

donghyuck takes his phone out of his pocket, he opens the screen it to three missed calls from jaemin and a text from Yuta that he reminds himself he to open later. 

“man, it’s okay I can get the bus, I don’t have much money on me” mark explained, he scratches the back of his head, he still hasn’t fixed his messy hair. 

“I’ve just payed for it, it’ll be here in fifteen minutes” donghyuck smoked, locking his phone with a smug smile on his face. “don’t even bother complaining, go get ready, spare toothbrush in my bathroom under the sink”

mark nods, whispering a small, shy thank you. He disappears through the hallway, and donghyuck sighs contently. 

mark returns in less than ten minutes, he’s brushed down his hair slightly, but donghyuck notices the strands at the back still poking up in three directions. He notices mark pulled out a hoodie he doesn’t wear often, a blood orange colour, it’s too big for him, despite mark being taller than him. he laughs, and mark turns to him, a shy expression on his face. 

“ya, mark”. donghyuck moves towards him, as mark puts his shoes on. “you have toothpaste on your face!”

donghyuck got close to mark quicker than he thought, they were suddenly almost face to face. donghyuck laughed at him. mark looked flustered suddenly, his face red and his lips slightly parted. 

“I do? Where?” mark tries to rub it off, but misses the spot completely. 

donghyuck grabs his arm, his touch warm and soft. he whispers a small “let me do it”, his breath fanning marks lips. He uses the sleeve to rub against the edge of marks lip, his touch soft and gentle. mark’s body stills, his lips parting. Their faces are so close that donghyuck can spell the fresh cherry lip balm mark had applied. marks eyes gaze over donghyuck’s face, and when donghyuck moves his sleeve away mark doesn’t move away, his face still lingers near donghyuck’s, and donghyuck can see him swallow deeply before saying “thank you”. 

donghyuck has a split second thought that this would be the perfect time to kiss him, but he has to quickly remind himself that he is straight, and has a girlfriend, so he moves away, uttering a shy “your welcome, mark”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading this update, please comment what you would like to see from mark and donghyuck in this fic!


	4. FOUR

It was nearly two in the afternoon when Yuta starts his shift, much to donghyuck’s dismay. His Japanese coworker smacks his ass as he walks past him, completely oblivious to the fact donghyuck is talking to a very wealthy Chinese business woman, who seems to be taken back by the skin-ship the older boy commits to. .

“I have something deadly serious to ask you” Yuta mutters in his ear, his coat and backpack still sitting snug on his body, one arm on the office door. donghyuck shrugged at him, a faint expression on his face before the other disappears to put his bag away in the staffing lockers, and donghyuck has no doubt in his mind that he’ll probably give taeyong a quick kiss on his way through.

The Chinese’s customer decides to go ask the opinion of jisoo, who was standing on the edge of the ground floor, her black hair pulled into a slick ponytail. donghyuck couldn’t blame the woman, he didn’t have much knowledge or effort to share with her today, and after the bum-slapping incident, yuta probably scared her away.

“tell me everything” yuta had already reappeared, his coat removed, exposing his tight white shirt and brown name tag. “quick, go”

“everything about what, exactly?” donghyuck raises one of his freshly plucked eyebrows, as he places the necklace the customer had been viewing back into the case.

“what happened with mark!”

donghyuck stops dead in his tracks, his hand freezing half way through the glass panel. He instantly scowls, how and why would yuta know anything about mark, mark and him, him and mark? Nothing even happened between them, donghyuck thinks, but he knows deep down that having a boy sleep in your bed drunk was something.

“what do you mean?” donghyuck sniggers, trying to hide the red that raises on his face. “nothing happened, we just danced at that club a few nights ago, we haven’t spoken since”

It was true, since mark had scurried away into the taxi, with red cheeks and a sore spot on his lip from where donghyuck had rubbed the toothpaste, he hadn’t heard anything else from him. Of course it made donghyuck sad, he felt a nice bond with the other, but he tried not to dwell on it. people come and go, he tells himself, and mark has become one of those people.

“you lie!” yuta slaps his hand across the back of donghyuck’s head, playfully. “I spoke to johnny last night, at poker”

“who even plays poker at twenty four years of age?” yuta knew donghyuck was trying to change the subject, it was obvious to anyone. “nothing happened, I promise”

“that’s not what johnny said, he said mark texted him five minutes after leaving _your_ apartment” yuta’s eyes are bright, menacing, almost.

donghyuck is grateful that the store isn’t busy right now, and no one can overhear his gossip other than a few young teen browsers and the Chinese women, who was purchasing some items from jisoo. “did you do anything? kiss? se-“

“no” donghyuck wails, turning the head of jisoo, his voice was pitchy, embarrassed. “he has a girlfriend, yuta, don’t make this out to be anything over-dramatic”

“johnny said he was over you all night, and I personally saw him drinking from your collarbone, his girlfriend wasn’t even an earshot away, you filthy child!”

donghyuck spins, his Chelsea boots squeaking against the expensive marble underneath him. He uses his left hand to hit yuta hard on the arm, but to his disappointment it only makes the other giggle.

“did he say anything else?” donghyuck’s voice is small now, thinking back to the intimate moment they shared moments before the elder left his home. “johnny, I mean, did he say mark mentioned anything else?”

“you made him pancakes, that tasted like shit, apparently” yuta winks, shaking his torso like it was meant to be something romantic, it makes donghyuck feel sick, that other people knew about the moments he had shared with mark. It was another clear indicator that the morning meant nothing to the Canadian boy, and that donghyuck is overthinking everything, once again. “is there something else I should know?”

before donghyuck even has time to yell at him, yuta is being pulled away by a playfully crossed-faced taeyong, who had appeared from the office, looking suspiciously casual today with his black hair flat against this head and a brown Louis Vuitton sweatshirt over his body.

donghyuck sighs from relief, his mind flooding with memories on the morning a few days ago. He can remember the warmth mark radiated in his bed, and how his cold feet felt against his legs. it made him unconsciously pout, without knowing he was doing it. And for the next hour of his shift, he can only feel himself thinking about the soft fluffiness of marks hair, and his dumb giggle that radiates through his ears, over and over again.

it’s distracting, of course, and chenle asks him three times if he’s feeling okay, and that he looks upset. donghyuck says he’s tired, again. really, he knows he’s pining over someone he will probably never speak to again, much to his dismay.

As the sun begins to fade outside, donghyuck starts to wrap up his work, selling one more handbag to a wannabe kpop idol, before closing down his iPad and leaving the store before taeyong, yuta or chenle can stop to ask him why he’s in a bad mood. He can’t exactly tell them that he’s dreaming about cuddling a lanky skater-boy, who has a girlfriend, into the dead of night, can he?

—

Out on the street, the weather has plummeted even deeper. The sky is nearly almost black, and a few glimmers of stars are beginning to make themselves visible over the tall buildings. donghyuck unconscionably wraps his fur lined coat around his body, tucking the collar up around his face to keep his lips from turning blue, and his nose from shining red. yet he knows the latter is already inevitable.

He notices that the streets were still slightly busy, people were finishing work, or coming home from after school classes, but it wasn’t hard for donghyuck to notice him, walking out from the skate shop, in which the lights were switched off. donghyuck sighs, contently. mark was alone, he similarly looked as cold as donghyuck, his hands tucked into a black hoodie, donghyuck feels slightly sad that he wasn’t wearing the one he borrowed from his wardrobe.

donghyuck wants to say hello, to speak to him, watch how his lips curl up with he speaks, and how his eyelashes flutter against his eyes. donghyuck’s heart feels sad, if that was even possible. He wants to rush to the other and give him his fluffy, expensive jacket, the red glowing from his nose made donghyuck feel sad. He wanted to protect him against _everything_.

mark is already walking ahead, this time without his usual skateboard tucked under his arm. donghyuck assumes that his girlfriend would meet him like last time, but after almost ten minutes of walking, mark passes the bus stop, and his girlfriend is no where to be seen. donghyuck hates that it makes him happy, he also hates the way marks walking makes him giggle, he waddles, acting like his feet are too big for his body.

after a second, donghyuck can see the skater boy stop, check his phone and turn around. donghyuck is sure that it is too dark for him to be seen, but it still makes his heart pound in his chest.

donghyuck gets closer, and mark still doesn’t move, donghyuck can still see him squinting in the dark, and now he’s sure that he has been spotted.

“donghyuck?” mark’s voice echoed through the open street, in which more stores are turning off their lights ready for the night. “hey! what are you doing here?”

donghyuck laughs as he comes face to face with the other. He notices that mark has red eyes, but donghyuck puts that down to the freezing weather. It’s awkward for a second, both of the boys eyeing each other before donghyuck breaks the sudden silence with a joke.

“I’m stalking you” he regrets it as soon as he says it, but mark laughs so beautifully that donghyuck eases. “I’m kidding, I just finished my shift, what are you up to?”

mark places a hand on donghyuck’s arm, squeezing it slightly through the thick fluff. It makes donghyuck halt slightly, his cheeks turning pink.

“I was just heading to get a coffee, I heard that kofi, you know the new café down the street, is serving Christmas drinks already, do you want to join me?”

donghyuck can’t even stop himself to think before he agrees, loudly saying “I would love to!” and he has no time to stop the smile that covers his face, which is reflected in mark. His chest feels happy, and his entire body heats up, and he suddenly doesn’t feel the need to hug his jacket to his body anymore.

They walk comfortably. mark cracks a few jokes, and tells donghyuck that some customers were unkind to him, and called him names while he was serving on the tills, because he accidentally priced a T-shirt at the wrong cost. This made donghyuck upset. donghyuck wonders for a second why he feels so strongly about the other, he barely knows him, but at the same time he knows him so well.

On entering the cafe, the chill runs out of donghyuck’s body and he can see mark relax into the warmth. The cafe is actually very sweet, donghyuck thinks, he likes the brown wallpaper and the artwork that hangs on the walls without frames, simply with blue tac.

“I’m just going to go to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a second to grab my drink” mark tells donghyuck, touching his arm once more. donghyuck hopes he would stop that, because it’s making his face really red.

donghyuck waits until he sees mark go into the bathroom, before stepping forward to look at the menu. He takes a look at the new Christmas menu mark spoke about, he did think it was slightly early for Christmas drinks, Halloween was in a few days, it wasn’t even November. He thinks for a second what drink mark would like, he looks like he’d be into the vanilla hot chocolate, so he orders that for mark, and asks for cream on top. For himself, he orders the black pudding coffee, which he believes would be too strong for marks taste.

The drinks are made quickly, and the kind face behind the counter hands them over onto a tray within a minute, donghyuck is impressed with the service, he normally has to wait ten minutes in his busy, usual cafe that sits opposite the Louis Vuitton store. Mark still hadn’t returned, so donghyuck assumes his stomach hurts, which makes him laugh inwardly, or he’s trying to make himself look pretty for him.

donghyuck snickers to himself, as he finds an unoccupied table by the window, the tables are a dark wood, and the chairs are covered with a plush material. Normally, when he gets coffee with his coworkers they tend to go to the more expensive, fancy places, so he feels happy to be in some place dense, slightly empty, and cosy.

he sees mark exit the bathroom, and his mouth falls into an O. maybe he really was right about mark making himself look nice, because even from where donghyuck is sat he can see that mark has brushed down his messy hair, and applied a lip balm. He watches as mark looks confused when he doesn’t see him waiting by the counter, and as he gets even more confused when he sees donghyuck waving to him from the corner of the cafe.

“I got this one for you, if you don’t like it that’s fine” donghyuck bats his eyelids as mark approaches the table, and sits, with his backpack still on. “I can just drink it if you want want it”

“Man” marks eyes are bright and beaming, and donghyuck’s body hisses when he feels his knee brush over his own under the table. “You really didn’t have to, how much shall I give you, it wasn’t expensive right?”

donghyuck sticks out his bottom lip, on his salary, buying both their drinks was nothing, but to mark it may have been a payout. Of course he doesn’t say this, instead he tuts and leans back, watching mark take a sip of his drink.

“You like it?” donghyuck asks, and mark nods. “So, you don’t owe me anything”

mark sighs, telling donghyuck that he gives up. Mark asks him about his day, to which donghyuck over exaggerates every customer interaction he has just to see the boy on the other side of the table laugh. He can feel mark hook his foot around his own, which makes his breath hitch in his throat, mark shoots him a glance, as if to say don’t talk about it, but his foot remains in the same place. donghyuck tries to not think about it, but his head begins to rush as he watches the other talk, his skin dripping like honey under the warm lights, a glow of blue in his eyes from the shop lights outside the window.

for a moment it feels like donghyuck’s world had stopped, the sound of marks voice is all he could hear, and the warmth of his feet is all he can feel. He likes this moment, the calm, the presence of mark, it reminds him of when they ate pancakes in his kitchen, but this time it was more intimate. mark was closer to him, his hand brushing against donghyuck’s on the table every time he reaches for his drink.

“ah” mark says, breaking the comfortable silence, breaking donghyuck from his peaceful stare at mark. “I have your hoodie at my house, I can bring it to you next time your working, or you can come pick it up tonight?”

donghyuck thinks for a second. He doesn’t want the hoodie back, because mark just looks too damn cute wearing it. But he also thinks that if he goes back to pick it up, that’s more time he can spend with his new friend, new crush. He knows that that’s a weird way to think, but he doesn’t want to go back to the confinement of his empty apartment just yet.

“I can come pick it up, but I don’t mind you keeping it.” donghyuck shrugs, and he catches a smug smile on marks face. “but also I want to spend more time with you”

mark laughs, his giggle filling the empty cafe. donghyucks knows his voice was flirty in his sentence, and he gets a sense of pride that his voice could make mark so red and shy. donghyuck appreciates the moments with him in this cafe, the way mark opened up to him as they talk, even for the next hour after they had both finished their drinks.

On the walk to the bus, the one that heads towards dongmak-ro, mark latches on to donghyuck’s arm, using the excuse “your jacket is so warm”, but donghyuck likes the believe that was a cover up for the fact mark simply wants to he close to him.

on the bus journey home, mark becomes sleepy, and his head falls against donghyuck’s shoulder. They are sat near the back of the bus, yet still receive a few questioning stares from others on the near-empty bus. donghyuck tries not to panic, but the fluffy hair tickles his cheek, and the scent of apple shampoo fills donghyuck’s nostrils, so it makes him overlap a few of his words. donghyuck and mark stay like this for a while, mark answering donghyuck’s mindless questions about his neighbourhood, his family and pets. He learns that mark lives with his mother, step father and younger half-brother, donghyuck remembers his name well because mark makes a pun as he says it, and two dogs called napa and ruby.

when he finally does arrive at marks house, it makes his heart feel warm. The exterior reminds him off his home back in jeju, the thin narrow building overlooked by its height, and the walls made from a red-brick. On entering, his heart goes even warmer, if that’s possible. Him and mark take their shoes off on a dark purple house mat which reads “welcome” in English, and donghyuck is instantly greeted by two small, yet very bouncy dogs.

“sorry, do you like dogs?” mark asks, but his answer is shot down by donghyuck who falls to the ground to lap up the dogs kisses. “I guess you do, god you are so cute”

Donghyuck stops the kisses at that point, his eyes squinting at mark to see the others panicked expression. donghyuck’s heart started to pound, but mark simply giggled to break that weird, yet romantic interaction the other ignited.

“here, my room is upstairs” mark points towards the narrow wood staircase. donghyuck notices the family pictures that follow the stairs, and he laughs at the third picture in, a picture of mark as a newly turned teen, a cap on backwards and his wonky teeth showing through his smile. “stop laughing, donghyuck, I was a baby”

“you were cute” donghyuck pouts, putting his hands on the backs of marks shoulders as they walk towards his room. he notices that even the upstairs of his house is cozy, it smells like vanilla scented candles and the aftermath of pancakes. It makes donghyuck miss home for a second, but he can’t dwell on that for long before the door to marks bedroom opens. donghyuck can’t say that he’s not shocked at the way the room looks, he was expecting electric blue walls covered in skate posters, a double bed with messy sheets, but what he saw was so so different.

the room was small, and the walls were a light brown colour, that matched the wood flooring and oak wood furniture. Rather than skate posters everywhere, the longest wall was covered by a book shelf, full of dusty books and vintage comics. his bed was a single bed, the sheets a dark maroon which matched the lamp shade.

“it’s not much” mark says, breaking the silence that follows as donghyuck gazes around his room, looking at everything in detail. “but, I think it’s cozy, don’t you think?”

Donghyuck smiles at that. He loves marks humbleness, and his ability to appreciate the small things. “I think it’s cute”

donghyuck perches himself on the end of his bed, the mattress isn’t as soft as his one at home, and he suddenly thinks about marks girlfriend. He wonders where she sleeps when she comes over, and how different mark is from her. “mark?”

mark stops shifting through his closet, most likely to find the hoodie donghyuck could care less about, to look over at donghyuck. “yes, hyuck?”

the nickname sends tingles down donghyuck’s spine. and mark looks so goddamn beautiful right now. donghyuck can’t help but blush, he hopes mark can’t see it through the dim light. His eyes are wide, but a small smile sits on his face. “where does your girlfriend sleep when she comes over?”

mark smile fades, and he coughs awkwardly. he stops searching through his wardrobe to take a seat next to donghyuck, his body much closer than donghyuck expected. “Yeeun doesn’t really come here”

donghyuck nods, quickly catching the sad tone laced in marks voice. He sits a hand on marks thigh, maybe that was a little bold, but when mark melts into his soft touch, he doesn’t dare think about moving it away. “Why not?”

donghyuck doesn’t want to be pushy, or upset him, so his voice is soft, his thumb rubbing small circles in his skin. He knows that he’s flirting, he knows that mark sighs contently with his touch, but he tells himself that this is nothing. mark has a girlfriend.

“she doesn’t like my room, she says the mattress hurts her back. She doesn’t like talking to my family, because she says that she’s shy, really I know she’s being arrogant because we are different to her and her family. She only wants to go to her house, which is so much further from here, so I haven’t been there for a while”

donghyuck likes that mark is opening up to him, he likes that he can see the small tears rising in marks eyes, he likes that mark can be vulnerable around him.

As mark leans his head against donghyuck’s shoulder for the second time, in a comfortable, warm silence, donghyuck notices a familiar Louis Vuitton box sitting on top of marks book collection, and it makes him smile, because the lock necklace reminds him of the first time they met.


	5. FIVE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to stop and stare by oneRepublic while writing this chapter. I felt as though it was really fitting with the atmosphere of the last part. enjoy! https://open.spotify.com/track/4vEUJR9W3IknzgbtBaZRUS?si=vsC3LaeAQduySx9Ec1LU9Q

When donghyuck wakes up, he can feel peaks of sunlight shining into his face. He can feel chill of the room despite not leaving the covers just yet, but then he remembers that he’s not in his own room, and that the body next to him isn’t a unconscious fragment of his tiredness. He’s in marks room. Next to him, in his bed.

donghyuck slowly peels an eye open, and is slightly shocked to see marks face inches away from his own, his mouth slightly agar with sounds of sleep escaping from it. 

He can feel his breath on his own lips, and he gets such a yearn to reach forward and kiss him, but he can’t, he has to remind himself that mark feels differently than he does. donghyuck can’t help but notice that mark is resting a hand on his hip, his fingers unconsciously moving against donghyuck’s honey skin. 

donghyuck remembers roughly falling asleep last night, he remembers sitting on the edge of marks bed, their bodies next to each other. He remembers saying “I should get going”, and the sadness that ran across marks face. He remembers mark saying he should “stay and watch a movie”, and that’s all he can remember before climbing under the warmth of marks sheets and falling asleep against his pillow. 

donghyuck wants to stay this way forever, cosied up against mark, their breathes fanning each other, and their skin touching skin. but it doesn’t last long, because their soft serenity is broken with three loud, angry knocks on marks narrow door frame, which causes marks eyes to fly open, his body still half asleep. 

“oh, did we fall asleep?” marks voice is raspy, like the first time he slept with donghyuck. mark was calm, still keeping his hand against donghyuck’s hip. But then donghyuck notices a look of fear cross his face when another knock comes on the door, and the comfort of marks hand is removed. 

“yeah, I think we did” donghyuck replies, his voice soft and low. “Your bed is much comfier than I expected” 

mark chuckles at this, his eyes still swimming with sleep. Donghyuck smiles at him, and thinks that if anyone was to see their current position, they’d believe that this was something more than two new friends who accidentally fell asleep. mark smiles back, his lips swollen from sleep, and donghyuck wishes with every fibre of his body he could kiss him, and feel those lips against his own. 

“I think your mother is knocking at the door” donghyuck says, snapping mark back into reality. 

“Mark! I know your in there!” The voice was muffled, due to the door restricting the sound. mark peels himself out of the bed, similarly confused to who was at the door, donghyuck keeps himself beneath the sheets, shooting a wink in marks direction to make the other blush. “open up, mark!”

mark shuffles towards the door, and donghyuck laughs at the way his brown hair is stuck up like he has been electrocuted, and his skin blotchy from sleeping. He looks hesitant before opening the door, his hand hovering over the knob, shooting a glance at donghyuck with a worried expression on his face before swinging the door open. 

it wasn’t his mother, it was his girlfriend. donghyuck gasps, and suddenly shrinks himself into the confinement of marks bed sheets. He watches as yeeun waltzes into the bedroom, her body covered in what looks like an expensive winter coat. 

“why are you ignoring my texts, mark?” her voice is angry, and donghyuck watches mark shy into the corner of his room. she still hasn’t noticed donghyuck, who is sitting in marks bed, and now donghyuck notices that he himself fell asleep in the pink hoodie mark always wears. that makes him feel even more awkward. 

“your such an idiot sometimes, mark” she says again, yabbing a finger into his collarbone. “We were meant to be going for lun-“

she spotted donghyuck, her eyebrow rising for one second before her face turns into a scowl. “who the fuck are you?”

“don’t be rude, yeeun” mark scoffs, suddenly getting defensive when she is abrupt to donghyuck, this makes donghyuck happy, because he feels super awkward right now. “You met him at the club, remember?”

“why is he in your bed, mark? I told you if people, even guys, come over I want them to sleep downstairs, after what happened last _time_” she yells slightly. “Me and sarah both told you that you have to watch yourself”. 

Last time? donghyuck’s mind races, mark has had a guy in his bedroom before? He doesn’t have time to dwell on it, because he can hear mark stuttering over his words, awkwardly. He also wonders who sarah is, an English name, similar to mark. 

“I lost my bus pass last night” donghyuck quickly says, lying through his teeth. “And mark saw me struggling on the side of the road because I live far away, so I came back here”

donghyuck can see relief pan over marks face, and the frown on his girlfriends face falters slightly, but her hands are still drawn into fists. 

“Well, mark, I’m going to wait downstairs” yeeun huffs, turning on her heels. “Let me know when, your little buddy leaves, and we can go out and hang out, like couples do”

—

donghyuck found his head pounding on his walk back to the bus stop. his heart yearned the entire journey, and the sad music he played through his earphones didn’t help him at all. He didn’t want to go home, because he felt like crying, he felt like screaming out into the street, he wanted to scream marks name, and run forever. 

donghyuck noticed on the bus that marks number had creeped his way into his phone, with the contact name “best markly” written in English, an ‘ugly’ photo of mark posing with a half asleep donghyuck beside him set as the contact photo. his heart swells. how he wishes he could text him cute morning messages, and tell him that he missed him. 

But donghyuck knew he’d be out with his girlfriend by this time, so instead he makes his way to jaemin’s house to distract his mind. 

“what’s wrong with you?” jaemin shoves donghyuck, as he plays on his switch. they hadn’t spoke much since donghyuck arrived, but they ate jaemin’s fathers fried eel before collapsing onto the velvet sofa. “why aren’t you annoying me like you usually do?”

“I’m depressed” donghyuck sighs, being over dramatic. but he also wasn’t joking about being sad. he sees jaemin pause his game and turn towards him, and donghyuck wants to laugh at the sports headband that rests on jaemin’s head to keep his white hair out of his eyes. 

“what happened? is it a guy?” jaemin asks, his eyebrows furrowed. “did taeyong fire you?”

“no, I didn’t get fired”

“so it’s a guy?” jaemin’s eyes widen, and he jumps up onto his knees, his legs digging into the soft plush of the couch. “Why didn’t you tell me you had something going on with a guy!”

donghyuck rolls his eyes, trying to distract him from the pink that is appearing on his skin. donghyuck was unsure if he should tell jaemin about what’s going on. he’s unsure wether to tell him about his and marks secret touches, the cuddling in bed, the way mark wrapped his foot around his own under the table. Because really, donghyuck thinks that it means nothing, and the flirtation he catches is made up in his head. he tells himself, he’s just lonely, and he always will be. 

“there’s nothing going on with a guy, Jae” donghyuck sighs, at the time time jaemin’s mother passes through the front room, placing a two hot cups of chocolate on the coffee table for both of the boys. “I have a silly crush, and things got out of hand”

at this time, jaemin demands to hear everything. so, donghyuck opens himself out. he tells him about the first time they met, in the store with the lock necklace, and by the time donghyuck gets to the fact he slept in marks bed with their limbs tangled, he has tears running down his face. 

“he can’t cuddle you all night” jaemin starts, taking a sip of the frothy chocolate from his tangled mug, “and then act like nothing happened! that’s totally not fair”. 

“how did you know, when-“ donghyuck lowers his voice, because the topic isn’t really family friendly in Korean homes just yet. “that jeno was gay, and wanted to be with you?”

jaemin smiled at the mention of his new boyfriends name. they had only been dating for a five months, in secret, the only people really knowing was donghyuck and a few other friends. 

“we were hanging out a lot, working on a project for our aerospace class” jaemin explained, his voice low too, now he had turned off his Nintendo switch, and was talking to donghyuck in full intensity. “I told him I worked at Louis Vuitton at the time, and he made a joke about how I must be gay”

“I mean it’s true” donghyuck laughed, thinking about how the only straight member of staff at their store was his supervisor jisoo. “And then?”

“so I yelled at him, and told him that because he’s straight doesn’t mean he can assume everyone’s sexuality” donghyuck nods. “and then he kissed me, hard on the lips, and told me that he wasn’t into girls, and we spent the whole night in his bedroom, kissing with reruns or friends playing behind us”

donghyuck pouts, placing the now empty cup of hot chocolate onto the coffee table. “it’s not that easy for me”

“he could be bisexual, you know” jaemin tells him, a comforting hand falling onto his shoulder. “Having a girlfriend doesn’t mean he’s straight”

donghyuck understands this. but he knew if he thinks like this, and took all of the soft touches and lingering stares mark affirms towards him to heart, he would overreact, probably act out and try to get mark to love him. so he has to remind himself that mark is in love with someone else, a girl. even though he tries to pretend he doesn’t see the fractions between his and yeeun’s relationship. 

“I know, I know, it’s just awkward, when he hooked his leg around mine, he just gave me a pointed look” donghyuck leans his head down against jaemin’s shoulder, it’s not as boney as marks. “As if to say, don’t talk about it”

“gay” jaemin shrugs, making donghyuck’s laugh fill the room. “maybe he just wants to be friends, hyuck, but stick it out, be his friend, you never know what will happen”

Donghyuck knows that he’s right. jaemin is always right, and that’s what he loves about him. 

“and what if he keeps doing all this romantic stuff? Do I say something?”

“then just kiss him, and then blame him if he gets mad”

“you are crazy” donghyuck huffs, pushing a fist into jaemin’s thin thigh. “but thank you”

—

When three days go by, and donghyuck hears nothing from mark, he assumes once again that their short friendship ends here. On his three shifts he worked in those three days, donghyuck thinks about mark all day. He thinks of marks hair, and how his warm hand felt against his waist. 

Yuta picks up on his mood, and bothers him all day, but donghyuck pushes him away, and pushes his feelings deep into his stomach. He finds his finger hovering over the “best markly” contact in his phone several times a day, and he wants to call him, invite him over for more pancakes but he doesn’t. 

So donghyuck finds himself sitting on his leather couch, surrounded by three fluffy blankets, with the tv playing an old American movie that he can’t quite understand, with a sad expression on his face. It’s getting about late afternoon, the sky outside of his large windows are gloomy, and there’s small pallets of rain falling down from them, trickling against his window. 

His heart begins to yearn. He tells himself that he’s just lonely and needs a friend, but he doesn’t bother to invite anyone over. He just wants to see mark. He feels like an idiot, why does he care so much about a boy who has a girlfriend? Why does he care so much that the other boy doesn’t feel the way? He can’t stop himself, and before he has time to think his fingers are typing away at his phone, sending an “I miss you” to mark. 

what makes him feel even dumber, is even after an hour he doesn’t get a response, he can’t stop the salty tears that run down his cheek, and the way his hands shake from sadness. He’s almost ready to put himself to bed at four in the afternoon, just so he could stop his mind from spiralling. 

but when he finds himself tippling along to his bathroom to wash his face, a loud ping from his phone echoes through the room. 

from: **best** **markly**: this Is Donghyuck, isn’t it? If so, I miss you too. <3

donghyuck stares down at to message for a moment, his heart thumping in his chest. He analyses every word, the heart, the i miss you. He catches himself smiling, his cheeks swelling up from the simple, short message from the other. 

to: **best** **markly**: if you miss me so much, why aren’t you with me right now? <3

from: **best** **markly**: I finish work in an hour, want me to bring you a coffee? <3

donghyuck squeals, running back into his living room and jumping excitedly, he feels like a little kid, a baby, someone dumb and idiotic. but he didn’t care because he was also so happy, because the guy he is so fond for wants to come over to his house, to bring him a coffee. 

and of course, donghyuck replies a yes, and quickly goes to change in to something more presentable. He pulls on a black Louis Vuitton hoodie he got at the store recently And pairs it with black skinny jeans, and brushes through his dark brown hair. mark was late, it was now nearly six in the evening, and donghyuck starts to feel sad, but that’s disrupted by the tuneful knock that comes from the door. 

when donghyuck swings it open, he’s greeted with a familiar face leaning against the door frame, a smug smile over his face. donghyuck melts at the way marks leather jacket is wet, and his hair is dripping droplets of water onto his face. marks holding two drinks in a takeaway holder, one with cream on top, one without. donghyuck signals for him to enter, with a bright smile on his face. 

“sorry, I took a while, the cafe was busy” mark says, a little smile appearing on his face. He places the takeaway holder on the kitchen island, and pulls out the drink without cream, and passes it into donghyuck’s hands, it’s still warm. “I assumed you didn’t like cream on your coffee, because last time you got it without”

donghyuck grins, “you remembered”

donghyuck steps forward, grabbing a napkin from the dispenser on the kitchen island. He uses his free hand to wipe the rain from marks face, and that familiarity of slowness he got from wiping the toothpaste from marks face comes rushing back. donghyuck uses the napkin to dot along marks face, he’s gentle, and his fingers brush the soft skin on the others face. mark stills, his eyes scanning donghyuck’s face intently, his cheeks a soft colour red. 

“Of course i remembered”

they both sigh contently and marks breath fans across donghyuck’s face. if donghyuck was more aware, he would’ve believed that they were about to kiss, because even after donghyuck drops the napkin to his waist, marks face remains so close to his. 

“anyway, the weather is awful out there” mark breathes, and then he awkwardly pulls away, coughing a little under his breath. “I should’ve worn a hooded jacket”

donghyuck can’t help but feel disappointed that the older boy has pulled away. He hides the disappointment well, laughing under his breath and following mark to his leather couch. 

“I was going to say your outfit is very unique, for you” Donghyuck laughs, moving over to sit on the couch with mark. “I haven’t seen you in anything but a hoodie”

“maybe I’m making myself look nice for you” mark winks, once more sending donghyuck into a pit of shy confusion. 

“are you flirting with me, mark lee?” donghyuck sighs, throwing his legs over marks on the couch. “your being very cute”

“maybe so” mark winks again. but then donghyuck notices some confusion and fear run across his face. “I’m just kidding man, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable”

your making me more uncomfortable by saying your joking. donghyuck thinks. 

“I like it” donghyuck whispers, looking down at the coffee in his hands. donghyuck feels the hand drop into his knee, and marks palm moving over his clothed skin. 

“you like it?” mark raises an eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink. “why?”

“because” donghyuck shrugs, his cheeks heating up. he can tell he’s gone red, bright red, and his hands are shaking slightly as he rises his coffee to his lips. “I’m gay, mark, I thought you knew”

silence fills the room, and the only thing making noise is the show running quietly on the tv in front of them. donghyuck thinks he’s blew it, because mark isn’t responding. he wants to cry, but when he sees mark trying to stifle back a smile, his heart crumbles, and the thumb that rubs circles into his skin comforts him, everything seems okay. 

The rain continues to patter against the windows, filling the quiet room with a calm serenity. It was peaceful, and that’s what donghyuck loves about spending time with mark, even if he’s done little of it, the skater boy makes him calm, he reminds him of what life is meant to be like, soft, peaceful and warm. 

“I do know” mark says, his voice soft and gentle. “I just wanted to hear it from your own mouth, before I did this”

and it feels as though time has stopped, because mark leans towards him, and donghyuck feels the thin hand of the other slide between his own. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don’t forget a kudos and comment :) thanks for reading <3


	6. SIX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you can see I’ve now updated the final chapter count, so we will have 10 chapters! also would you be interested in a yuta taeyong short spin off?? I feel like their relationship is super fun in this context. :)

  
It becomes a regular occurrence, mark staying over at donghyuck’s apartment, the both of them falling asleep on the couch with their limbs tangled. they hold hands every second they can, and mark has taken a habit of resting his head against donghyuck’s shoulder, muttering about how he loves his perfume, but really donghyuck knows that’s an excuse to be close to him. 

After a three weeks of all of that, donghyuck asks mark what this all means, what the hand holding means, what the lingering stares and cuddling means. but mark doesn’t respond, he mumbles, and changes the subject. Of course this makes donghyuck upset, but he doesn’t press anymore, because technically he doesn’t want any of this to end. He enjoys mark way to much, he wants to drown in the skater boy, and kiss him all over. 

The only day that goes by that donghyuck doesn’t see mark, is yeeun’s birthday. mark disappears for the whole day, he doesn’t reply to any texts, or send donghyuck his favourite song of the day, which he had gotten into a habit of doing. Later that week, donghyuck asks if yeeun liked her lock necklace, and donghyuck wants to cry as he asks this, because that lock necklace reminded him of everything good inside of mark, but it was given away. mark mumbled again, saying that her birthday was good and they spent time with an old friend named sarah, but quickly changed the subject. 

Today, donghyuck is sitting behind the counter at the store, chenle muttering into his ear about his school project that he doesn’t fully understand, but donghyuck isn’t listening, because he’s too distracted by the boy in the pink sweater who is walking into the store, holding a box of sushi in his hands, and a coffee. 

“hi” mark whispers, his voice soft and gentle, and his eyes red. “I brought you lunch”

“why?” donghyuck asks, ignoring the raised eyebrow coming from chenle, and yuta who is placed at the top of the stairs, peering over the edge with a cheeky smile. “Have you been crying?”

they step aside slightly, donghyuck’s hand reaching out to grab marks forearm. donghyuck doesn’t care that he’s at work, because when mark is around he drowns, he drowns in his presence. right now his main priority has switched from being the rich customer who seems interested in a purse to the book who is upset in front of him. 

“no, I’m fine” mark is lying. donghyuck knows this by now, he knows mark is lying because he won’t make eye contact, his eyes lingering at the broken down white and red vans that hold his feet. “I’m just cold”

“liar” donghyuck sighs, taking the coffee from his hand, purposely running his fingers over marks knuckles, and reaching over to put it on his desk, smiling as a non-vocal thank you, mark understands this by now, too. “I won’t press about it while I’m working, but your clearly upset”

“yeeun” mark mumbles, his voice almost inaudible. it makes sense, it’s what donghyuck had assumed in the first place. 

“okay” donghyuck nods. he wants to get angry, he wants to tell mark that he deserves so much more. but he remains calm, because making mark feel better is all that matters. His hands find their way to the shoulders of the taller boy, squeezing them slightly, and doing so until Marks breath steadies. “do you want to come over later? We can talk about it?”

mark shakes his head. 

“not to your house” mark whispers, shaking his head. “shall we go for a hot choco?” 

donghyuck nods, throwing his arms around mark. 

he doesn’t care where they are, he doesn’t care that taeyong might yell at him for being unprofessional afterwards, he doesn’t care about the staring customers, or the gasping jisoo who is talking to a British woman. He only cares about comforting mark, he can’t help it. He really wish he could. 

“I should go, my coworker renjun is begging me to take him some chocolate” mark says, into the crook of donghyuck’s neck. donghyuck breathes in the scent of him, engulfing himself in the scent of apple shampoo and the musky hoodie. He doesn’t ever want to let him go, but he does “I’ll meet you here at five?”

“okay” donghyuck says again, his arms sliding down the rugged material of the hoodie and lingering over marks hands, they are cold to the touch, and donghyuck wants to wrap his warm hands around them to keep them heated, but the worried expression on marks face makes him release them reluctantly. “thank you for the lunch”. 

“I’ll see you later” mark tells him, a soft, yet warm smile quickly bracing his face before he turns on the heels of his feet and slowly walks out, donghyuck watches him walk away, waving at him when he turns around to look at donghyuck before leaving. 

“he brought you lunch?” yuta had appeared from beside him, scaring him when his large hand makes contact with his shoulder. “so he’s your boyfriend?”

donghyuck rolls his eyes, taking the sushi pot and ice coffee and placing it underneath the counter, where he will eat it on his lunch break in an hour. chenle has now disappeared, and donghyuck can see him helping an older gentleman purchase a bag. 

“not my boyfriend” donghyuck deadpans. “How’s taeyong? Both your hair is very messy” 

yuta clicks his tongue, but donghyuck can see him flattening the back of his shoulder length hair quickly while peering into a mirror that leans on the wall. 

“he’s good, brat” yuta hums, following him behind the counter, “he’s being weird recently, saying that he wants to date me for real, but I’m not too sure”

“you have taeyong, a mega rich, mega hot, mega funny guy asking to date you and you’re not sure?” donghyuck frowns, he doesn’t understand this, if mark asked him tomorrow to be his boyfriend he’d drop everything and say yes. “you’re crazy”

“no, you’re crazy, you think I didn’t see the way mark was looking at you just now?” yuta laughs, his voice way too loud, it was echoing through the marble confinement’s, and as taeyong walks through to check on things, donghyuck catches a stare come from his way. “he was looking at you like there’s _nothing_ else in this world”

donghyuck can’t help the butterflies that arise into his stomach, or the way he can feel his round cheeks turning red. he wants that to be true, so, so badly. but his heart tells him he needs to get a grip, to slow himself down. but he’s so confused. if mark was so in love with yeeun, why was he at his house everyday, holding his hand and engulfing his body into the dead of night?

“he’s just clingy” donghyuck waves his hand, trying to lie to himself at the same time. He thought that mark being clingy was the only valid reason he latches onto donghyuck’s smaller hands every night, but the unspoken glances tend to change that perception, in donghyuck’s mind. “we are just friends, yuta. let it go, please”. 

so yuta does, expelling a large sigh of frustration from his lips, and pattering over to meet taeyongs side by the new hoodies the manager is organising, donghyuck notices the Japanese boy send a slap to he others backside, and the laugh that radiates from taeyongs mouth. it makes him sad, he wishes he could do all of this with mark, love him, kiss him, make love to him. but he cannot. 

donghyuck can feel the phone he’s hiding in his pocket vibrate, not once by twice, and when he looks down at his phone, he’s greeted by his favourite sight. 

from: **best markly**: sorry for being a dumb dumb, I probably shouldn’t have come to your workplace while I’m upset. <3

from: **best** **markly**: I just missed your face. 12 hours without seeing it was too hard... :)

donghyuck can’t reply, because he doesn’t want to get caught on his phone at work, but as he places his phone back into is pocket, everything feels okay. 

—

At five o’clock, donghyuck quickly wraps up with the young girl he was serving, completely oblivious to her flirtation, and runs into the staff room. he knows mark will be waiting outside for him, so he throws on a jacket to brace himself for the cold, quickly fixes up his makeup by blotting his now shiny face, and brushes his hair. He knows mark doesn’t care what he looks like, or so he thinks. but it’s something he does unconsciously, he wants to look pretty for mark. 

and sure enough, the skater boy is sitting outside of the store on a bench with his hands buried into the pockets of the black hoodie he took from donghyuck’s house nearly a month ago, this warms donghyuck’s heart, and it makes him want to run to mark and kiss his nose, and snuggle into the jacket, but he doesn’t. it makes him feel warm that the other has changed from his usual pink hoodie into the one donghyuck let him use. 

“nice hoodie” donghyuck smiles, noticing how mark eyes beam up at him under the setting sun. donghyuck can’t help the twinge in his chest, mark looks so beautiful under the orange sky, the light that emerges from the clouds radiates against his face, turning him a soft honey colour. 

“you don’t mind that I’m wearing it right?” the older boy’s voice is soft, as he stands up to meet donghyuck’s height. “it’s too comfy”

“no, it looks nice on you” donghyuck’s voice is shaky, he doesn’t know why. 

they walk and chat on the way to the coffee shop, their shoulders brushing with each step. if the streets were more empty, donghyuck would’ve reached over to take marks hand, but he knows the shoulder brushing is enough to ignite a fire in his chest, which stays until they sit down at the same seat in Kofi, their legs automatically linking beneath the table without a spoken word. it was like magnetics. 

“how was work?” mark asks, taking a sip of donghyuck’s warm drink with a smirk before passing it over to the rightful owner. “you looked bored when I came in”

donghyuck swats his hand playfully, yet he really doesn’t care that mark shared his drink, that kind of thing touches him. “I was bored, you’d think a Louis Vuitton store in the middle of Seoul would be more exciting”

mark nods, biting into the chocolate brownie he had brought alongside his coffee, and breaks of a half and hands it over to donghyuck. “you didn’t work today, right?”

mark shakes his head with a mouthful of brownie. he swallows it before speaking, and donghyuck sniggers at the chocolate that remains on the side of his small mouth. 

“no I had the day off, me and yeeun went out to shop” donghyuck hates the way his chest buckles when he mentions his girlfriends name. “but, we had a fight” 

“really?” donghyuck asks him, putting one and one together and assuming that’s why he was crying earlier. “how so?”

mark takes a breath, like he’s trying to steady himself before speaking. donghyuck reaches to place his hand against marks arm, but the other boy flinches slightly, something he hasn’t done before. 

“because I’m not spending as much time with her, as I should be” mark’s voice is so quiet that donghyuck can just about make out his words, he can’t help but feel the strings tie around his heart, he doesn’t want to see mark cry again, he doesn’t want to see him upset. 

“is there a reason you’re not spending time with her?” donghyuck asks carefully, his fingers finding their way under the sleeve of marks (his) hoodie and rubbing small circles in his soft skin, his fingers moving up and down, against his knuckles and wrist. he can feel time stop again, because mark goes silent, and melts into his warm touch, donghyuck doesn’t bother to touch his coffee after this, because making sure the other was okay is all that matters. 

“because I’m spending time with you instead” marks voice is shaking, and he’s refusing to make eye contact with donghyuck, a tear falls down his cheek, dropping onto the wooden table before him. 

“I’m sorry” donghyuck automatically says, even though he knows it’s not his fault. mark is the one who held his hand in the first place, marks the one who slept in his bed that first time they met in the club, marks the one who came into the store to buy that stupid lock necklace, which donghyuck pictures sitting around his stupid girlfriends neck. 

“it’s not your fault, hyuck” marks eyes still face the table, and donghyuck’s insides stir with the nickname that escapes marks mouth, it’s the first time he has called him this. “it’s my fault, I should have never ignited any of this in the first place”

“ignited what?” donghyuck knew what he meant, he just wanted to hear the words come from marks mouth himself. his fingers still rub the skin on marks hand, which he can tell comforts the other.

mark looks at him, his eyes watery and soft, his bottom lip quivering and his hands shaking slightly. 

“all of this, the hand holding, the touching, the cuddling” mark sighs, rubbing his eyebrows with the hand donghyuck isn’t caressing. “I don’t know why I’ve done this, I have a girlfriend. I can’t deny that this is wrong, for me, and for you”

donghyuck shakes his head, not really liking where he can feel this going. 

“I’m sorry, donghyuck” 

“why are you _sorry_?” donghyuck can feel his breath stop in his throat, he really really really doesn’t like where he assumes this is heading. “I enjoy this mark, I enjoy you”

“but it’s wrong” mark says, a small smile braces his face for a second before another tear trickles down his cheek. “I shouldn’t have lead you on like this”

“don’t go” donghyuck’s voice comes out as a squeak. his bottom lip poking out without him even knowing. “we are just friends mark, why does that matter!” 

mark looks away from donghyuck, breathing from his nose as he uses both hands to cup the smaller ones on the table. “I should go”

“don’t” donghyuck grabs onto his hands, pulling them so he can’t escape, but the sad, defeated look on marks face ignites him to let go, and so he does. He doesn’t want to, because he doesn’t want to go back to a life without mark lee, he doesn’t want to spend his days alone in his overly large apartment without him. He doesn’t want to go drink coffee without him, he doesn’t want to live without him. donghyuck has to remind himself, they were never anything. mark isn’t his boyfriend, he’s yeeun’s, he isn’t his to save. 

“so you bring me lunch, you tell me you miss me, you bring me all the way here just to say goodbye?” donghyuck feels his hands moving into fists. “us being friends doesn’t change the fact your with yeeun, mark!”

“I think you know that we are more than just friends, and that scares me” 

donghyuck gulps, he can hear mark whisper that he’s sorry, yet he watches the skater boy push back his chair, and leave the coffee shop, shooting one sad, defeated look donghyuck’s way. 

and donghyuck feels like his heart has been ripped from his chest, and he’s back to being lonely. 

—

“I’m going to kill him” jaemin seethes, falling back into the plush leather of donghyuck’s couch. it’s been four days since mark left donghyuck alone in the coffee shop, and he was just getting around to telling jaemin about it now. 

“so he just, gave you some brownie, then upped and left?” jeno adds, falling down next to his boyfriend. donghyuck didn’t invite jeno, but where jaemin goes jeno goes. he doesn’t mind this of course, he likes jeno, very much. but he can’t help but be reminded of mark every time the two boys hands meet. “that’s very strange”

“pretty much, one second he was holding my hand, the next he was telling me that he has to go” donghyuck gets sad thinking about it, he’s been thinking about it since mark actually ran away, he hasn’t heard from him since, or seen him walking too and from work. 

“me and jeno will find you someone better” jaemin laughs, throwing a blanket over the three of them and putting his legs up so they hang over both jeno and him. “jeno, what about that guy you go to drum lessons with, Lucas, is he called?”

jeno hums, thinking about it for a second before shaking his head, fluffy black hair falling into his eyes. “not donghyuck’s type, too manly, probably straight”

donghyuck elbows him. “mark was manly”

jaemin laughs, his head finding its way into the crook of jeno’s neck. “so manly he wore a pink hoodie everywhere he went and held your hand every five minutes”

“he’s probably confused” jeno shoves jaemin for laughing, and places a soft hand on donghyuck’s shoulder. “maybe he didn’t know he could have feelings for a guy, some people struggle with that kind of thing”. 

donghyuck understands this, of course he does, when he was fourteen and found himself crushing on his maths teacher called Park Taeho, he went into a pit of confusion. but he’s had over a month, maybe longer since him and mark first met, so he really wished mark would have just talked it out with him rather than running away in fear. 

“that stupid lock necklace” donghyuck sighs, also letting his head fall onto the other shoulder that isn’t occupied by jaemin’s mop of white hair. 

“what necklace?” jeno asks, sitting comfortably between the two boys. donghyuck is sure he’s already told this story, but maybe he hasn’t. he doesn’t know anything anymore, his mind is too occupied with marks smile, and the sound of his annoying laugh. 

“we met mid-October when mark came to buy a lock necklace for his girlfriend”. he explains, getting a understanding hum from the boys next to him. “it’s such a nice, expensive necklace, she doesn’t deserve it”

“she doesn’t deserve mark” jaemin shrugs, despite only meeting mark once, when he was leaving his apartment and jaemin was coming to drop over some of his fathers eel. that seemed like a lifetime ago by now. 

donghyuck knew jaemin was right. she didn’t deserve mark, he did. but there was nothing he could really do to stop it, mark loved someone else, not him. 

“are you guys happy?” Donghyuck asks, turning his head slightly to look up at jeno, but he can see nothing apart from two large nostrils. “how do you feel when your with each other”

“aren’t we going to depress you, hyuckkie?” jaemin says, but he can already sense the heartfelt smile on his face from even thinking about his boyfriend, donghyuck shakes his head, using his hand to tell the guys to talk. 

“when I first met jaemin, it was like someone lit a fire under my ass” jeno starts. “I had never dated a guy before, I never even thought my crushes on Male celebrities, Harry styles to be exact, were real, but the first time jaemin touched my skin, I knew I was going to love him”

donghyuck sighs, because most of that is how he felt, meeting mark. the first time he walked into the store, and captivated him was the first time he felt real fire in his heart. 

“and then when jeno kissed me, it’s like, everything stopped” jaemin adds, donghyuck couldn’t relate this one, because mark left before they ever had chance to kiss. they were close, with the toothpaste and when donghyuck wiped the rain from his hair, but never did their lips touched. “as jeno said, it’s like I caught on fire.”

“that’s how I felt when me and mark held hands” donghyuck mutters, using his fingers to naw at the fleece material of jeno’s jumper. “I miss him”

“just keep telling yourself,” jeno starts, pausing for a second. “If he doesn’t come back, someone else is better for you”

and he knows that jeno is right, but every fibre of his being wants mark to come back, because he feels as though mark is right. 

“you’re only twenty” jaemin adds, and donghyuck can see jaemin’s boney hand running against the skin on jeno’s wrist, his fingers running over his knuckles and down his forearm. it reminds him of when mark left, when his hands were all over his skin in the cafe, before mark broke it all. “you have time”

“I’m lonely” donghyuck admits, finally spluttering our his weakness, a weakness he hides within himself. “I’m so lonely”

“how does mark make you feel?” jaemin asks, his voice turning softer by hearing the broken tune in donghyuck’s voice. “does he help take away that feeling of loneliness?”

“he makes it feel like, my life is full”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don’t forget kudos and a comment! Let me know what you think !


	7. SEVEN

after a month, when Christmas finally passes and the new year is in a few days, donghyuck finds his spirits lifted. taeyong bumped up his position in the store to jewellery supervisor, meaning he had more responsibility and, a pay rise. jaemin has gifted him a new PlayStation for Christmas, he doesn’t know where he friend got the money as a college student, but he then remembered his dad is a supervisor at a talent agency so it made sense, it gave him something to do, when he’s alone in his apartment. 

donghyuck tries to not let his stomach tighten when he sees mark opening the doors for kickerz skate shop one morning. he tries to not be jealous when he sees mark smack the ass of the boy beside him, the boy that donghyuck recognises as renjun. but, still, after a month of not communicating with the older, his stomach flutters at the sight of the fluffy haired boy, who is wearing his hoodie. 

he lets it go, he walks past, with his eyes to the ground and finishes his shift. There’s been an intake in how many people want the lock necklace, since a famous idol wore it. He finds himself selling at least three a day, which reminds him of the first time mark shuffled through the glass doors with a scared expression on his face. 

“you okay?” a voice breaks donghyuck out of his thoughts, the Chinese accent easily distinguishable. chenle stares at him, an eyebrow raised. “your spacing out”

donghyuck hums, watching as the younger crosses behind him to put away some jewellery he was trying to sell to a young boy. “I’m tired”

“you’ve been saying your tired every shift we’ve worked together this month” chenle’s sentence is condescending, but his tone is soft. chenle cares a lot, and understands donghyuck’s feelings even if he hasn’t known him for the longest time. 

donghyuck gulps, but he doesn’t dare say that he’s upset because he saw his ex-hand holder still wearing his hoodie. he can’t tell him that every time he dares to hold a lock necklace his fingers shake due to the thought of mark. 

“family stuff, le donghyuck sighs, patting the brown hair of the shorter boy, who pouts. “how’s jisung?”

chenle smiles slightly, a rose tings appearing on his cheeks. to add more fuel to the fire, chenle has only decided that his first love has to be someone who also works at kickerz skate shop, the newest recruit. he doesn’t even know how jisung and chenle met, but he doesn’t ask, he doesn’t want to know. 

“good! He’s so great” chenle hums, jumping on his feet. donghyuck thanks god that it’s somewhat quiet in the store, due to it now being late and that not many people can hear the patter of chenle’s feet against the marble floor. “He said some stuff about mark when we got McDonald’s last night”

donghyuck’s chest hurts at the mention of mark. “Why? What did he say?” 

“that he’s sad at work all the time” chenle raises an eyebrow at donghyuck’s reaction, donghyuck had told him what had happened with the skater-boy when chenle decided to have a crush on jisung. “but he doesn’t ever say why, he uses the same excuse you do”

“I just need to get over it” donghyuck huffs, pulling his shirt sleeves down to cover his wrists. “it’s been ages, he’s happy with his girlfriend, I need to grow up”. 

chenle nods, it’s understandable. donghyuck knows it’s lame to be pining after someone who is in the past, but he can’t seem to shake him from his brain. 

“anyway taeyong told me to tell you to go home” chenle pats the taller boys shoulder, his hands cold through the material of his shirt. 

“why? I’m meant to be here until eight?” donghyuck questions, he looks at the clock, it’s only six, but he knows why he’s been told to go, taeyong is good at picking up on bad moods, and sad situations. 

“you know why, dong” chenle smiles slightly, his hand still on donghyuck’s shoulder. “your sad, go home, make a cup of tea, and watch a movie”

“okay” donghyuck nods, he knows he needs some time to be peaceful, and to think about things. he’s also extremely tired, he didn’t sleep at all last night, because he stayed up all night crying to sad songs. 

“I’ll see you on Saturday, make sure you rest well” 

—

donghyuck falls asleep within the first half an hour of arriving back at his apartment. the low hum of rainfall pattering against his window was enough to send him into a deep slumber on the couch, his head bundled into a fluffy pillow and his hair pushed back so his forehead was showing. He sleeps for three hours, before a crack of lightning hits his window, which shakes his fourth floor apartment. 

he loves the storm, so he wakes himself up, stretches his limbs and takes a cup of warm coffee to the window, where he sits for ten minutes, watching the black clouds light up grey, illuminating the city which looked barren from his view. 

he can’t help that his mind wanders to him. he wonders if the storm excites him, or if he hiding out inside of his room. maybe he’s even with yeeun, laughing and joking with her like he wishes he could. he knows it’s unhealthy to think of mark all the time, so he tries to distract himself, pulling out his phone to take photos of the storm, and plays soft music in the background. 

he finds himself sitting like this for a while, the music working in time with the lightning, and he can feel himself drifting back to sleep where he is sitting on the floor, but a sudden knock from the door catches his sleepiness, making his half closed eyelids shudder open. 

he frowns, checking the time on his phone. it’s past ten in the evening by this point, a strange time for anyone to knock on the door. he hesitantly pulls himself up, taking the empty coffee mug and placing it on the kitchen island as he passes. another knock comes from the door, this time harder, more desperate, so he hurries towards it. 

he braces himself to see yuta crying over taeyong, or jaemin and jeno wanting to go party, but when the wooden door swings open and he’s met with a different face, his whole body goes into shock, like he’s been turned to ice. 

“hi” the voice is muffled, soft, broken. donghyuck doesn’t reply for a second, only his eyes glancing over the boy in his doorway. He wasn’t expecting mark to be stood there, his eyes puffy and red with his cheeks stained from tears, the hoodie he took from donghyuck soaked through from the rain, and his legs shaking. 

“what are you doing here mark?” donghyuck’s voice is shaking, he wants to sound mad, he wants to make mark guilty for what he did, but it comes out as nothing more than a whisper. “what’s wrong?”

mark doesn’t reply, instead he steps a foot inside of the apartment, and squeezes his body against donghyuck’s. It’s uncomfortable, the wet of marks clothes dripping through to his skin, and his wet hair brushing his face, but donghyuck doesn’t seem to care, because mark is here, and mark is crying, and suddenly all the anger he had built up against the skater boy has fizzled away. 

“mark?” donghyuck asks again, his arms squeezing around him. “what are you doing here?”

“I’m so sorry, hyuck” mark whispers into the crook of his neck, his breath hot and warm, tickling his skin. “I’m so sorry for leaving”

“what happened?” donghyuck asks, resentment still obvious in his voice, but it’s lapped up mostly by his soft tone. 

“me and yeeun broke up” mark says, sniffling. donghyuck sighs, and pushes the other away slightly, anger becoming evident through his actions. 

“so your just here because your girlfriend broke up with you?” donghyuck breathes through his nose, he felt like a token for a second, like a plaything, something mark wants to cuddle and kiss while his girlfriend isn’t around. “that’s not cool”

mark shakes his head, sending droplets of water onto the floor. his bottom lip is shaking, and donghyuck can’t tell if it’s from the cold or from nerves, he assumes a little of both. 

“I broke up with her, hyuck” he explains, his voice rising slightly. they stand in silence for a second, before mark steps forward again, his face a mere few inches away from the other. “I told her I can’t be with her if there’s someone else on my mind”

donghyuck’s mouth drops into a small ‘o’, and he quickly assumes that the “someone else” is him, from the way mark reaches and grabs his smaller hand. he can feel his heart beating in his chest, and he squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds to make sure he’s not dreaming. 

“me?” mark laughs a little at his question, squeezing his knuckles with cold hands. “mar-“

“I’ve been thinking about you from the moment I brought that stupid necklace” mark says, a tear running down his cheek. it’s the third time donghyuck has seen mark cry, and he feels grateful the older has no problem being vulnerable with him. yet this time was different, marks chest was rising and falling, and broken sobs were escaping his mouth. 

“I’m sorry I held your hand, and cuddled you, I’m sorry I did all these things while I was with her” mark continues, stifling a small sob into his throat. “I knew I liked you, I knew the feelings were mutual and I’m sorry I never did anything to make it better”

donghyuck nods, his fingers still wrapped in between the pale ones, he rubs marks skin slightly to comfort him. “it’s okay”

“I was scared, hyuck” mark says softly, his eyes glaring into donghyuck’s. “I’ve never felt like this with another guy before, every time I kissed yeeun, I wished it were you.”

donghyuck nods again, letting mark talk his way through his tears. he’s hurting. he’s just broken up with someone he’s been with for a while, and he’s confessing feelings to someone else just hours later. it’s hard. donghyuck knows this, so he’s calm, and he lets mark catch his breath before speaking. 

“it’s okay, mark” donghyuck hugs him again. this time tighter, not caring at all if the wet from the rain sleeps through his clothes. a crack of lighting shudders from outside, making the whole situation even stranger. “your okay now? okay?”

mark nods into the crook of his neck, before pulling back. he stares at donghyuck for a second, scanning his face as if he’s thinking about what to say. the music is still playing by the window, suffocating the two boys into a dream-like space. 

“can you just” mark pauses for a second, taking a deep breath. “kiss me or something? that’s what they normally do in the movies”

“okay” donghyuck gulps down the lump in his throat. his hands reach up to cup marks neck, and he strokes his skin softly. “are you sure? I don’t want you to act rationally and regret it in the morning”

“_kiss_ me, donghyuck” mark says, almost desperate. 

so that’s what donghyuck does, he steps forward, his hands still on the side of marks face and lets one slide to sit on the back of his neck, and he pushes his lips against marks. 

it lasts for only about ten seconds, their lips not opening, it was nothing more than a simple peck. but it was beautiful, the soft “hmmph” that came from marks lips when the grip on his neck got harder drove donghyuck insane and his legs went weak. he’s been waiting for this moment, he’s dreamt of it. 

“was that okay?” donghyuck says, slightly breathless, mark looks shocked, his lips spread slightly, his chest rising and falling. he doesn’t respond, instead this time he kisses donghyuck, but he’s hungry, and he’s harsh. donghyuck lets mark slip his tongue into his mouth, sending him into a complete state of euphoria. 

mark pushes donghyuck back slightly, so his back rests against the kitchen counter, his hands roaming donghyuck’s hair before he pulls away, his lips swollen and red. donghyuck giggles, which makes mark laughs too, his eyes no longer red and sad, yet bright and hopeful. 

—

“I can’t sleep” mark mumbles, nuzzling his head against donghyuck’s shoulder. his voice is drowned out by the patter of speech coming from the tv. his hair no longer smells like apple shampoo, but of the coconut wash donghyuck uses, as mark had showered after they had finished kissing for twenty minutes. “what’s the time?”

donghyuck hums, grabbing marks hands and playing with his fingers. “late, but it doesn’t matter, we haven’t got anything to do tomorrow”. 

mark nods, his fingers going floppy in donghyuck’s touch, donghyuck leans to press a kiss to his forehead, and then it all hits him. this is real. mark is here, and they can kiss. he’s unsure if he can call him his boyfriend yet, because mark is still shy, and soft, and a little confused. 

“what did, yeeun say when you broke up with her?” Donghyuck asks carefully. “did you tell her it was me?”

mark sighs, his head lifting back up to look at donghyuck intently. “she somewhat, assumed it was you”

donghyuck nods, leaning forward to press a small kiss on marks lips, which makes the other smile slightly. 

“a few years ago, when me and yeeun had been dating for a few months, I brought a guy back to my house after getting drunk” mark starts. “I was only young, like seventeen or eighteen, and her and my friend sarah caught me with him”

“oh” donghyuck replies, he doesn’t know what else to say, so he fingers his hands through marks hair. 

“so when she caught us sleeping in bed that morning, she started to suspect things” mark says, letting his hands trail over donghyuck’s legs. “and when I told her I didn’t love her anymore, she asked if it was you”

donghyuck nods, not wanting to press on this conversation anymore. the thought of mark and yeeun made him sad. so instead he flops himself over mark, making the older boy laugh loudly, and before he could even think, he was asleep, curled up against marks legs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don’t forget a kudos & comment <3


	8. EIGHT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok there is smut in this chapter so I’ve had to change the rating. If you don’t like smut, you can skip to the first — , but it’s not that dramatic and is soft and short. Okay thanks enjoy !

when donghyuck’s walks into the bedroom at just past eleven in the morning, carrying a tray of eggs and toast, the shocked “wow” that springs from marks lips makes him smirk. donghyuck would be lying if he said he didn’t wake up early to cook mark breakfast today, since they first kissed, they’d both woken up in a tangle of limbs on the couch for four days straight, but today donghyuck wanted to surprise him, treat him, show him how much he cares. 

donghyuck would also be lying if he said he didn’t wake up early to change into his shortest, tightest pair of cycling shorts, that show the rim of his butt, to wave in marks face. he’s also slicked his hair back with dry shampoo, and applied tinted lip balm. he knows why he’s done this, but he wants to be subtle. he doesn’t want to rush things, or make mark uncomfortable. 

mark sits up in the bed, his eyes glancing over the shorts that sit around donghyuck’s hips make donghyuck smirk, marks lips are slightly parted, and his tongue runs along his bottom lip. 

“you excited for this breakfast?” donghyuck asks, skipping over to the edge of marks ‘side of the bed’ and places the tray on the bed side cabinet. “I’m a great cook”

“mmm” mark sighs, his eyes still scanning down to donghyuck’s shorts, his eyes lingering over it for a few seconds. “come here”

mark motions donghyuck over to join him on the bed, which donghyuck does, and mark pulls him over his lap, so that donghyuck is straddling him. donghyuck infernally screams, because the way mark pushes the blanket down to the bottom of the bed and cups his ass cheeks with his hands makes the air catch in his throat. he suddenly doesn’t care that the eggs are getting cold. 

“you drive me crazy, you can’t just walk around in those shorts like that” mark sighs onto his lips, pressing his swollen pair against donghyuck’s, lapping up the strawberry flavour balm and humming slightly. “you taste good”

donghyuck kisses him again, this time with more vigour, his hands finding their way to the bottom of marks white T-shirt, and foundling his hands underneath to cup his hips. donghyuck melts into his touch, his waist warm and soft against his fingers. 

when mark bites down on his bottom lip, donghyuck moans, which shocks both mark and him. they’ve never been this heated before, this intimate, this horny. since their first kiss four days ago, it’s been sweet, short, a few make out sessions before mark gets shy and runs away into the bathroom before things can escalate. 

donghyuck’s finds his hips unconsciously moving against marks, the fabric of the shorts he’s wearing rubbing him in all the right ways. marks lips find their way to donghyuck’s neck, and one hand moved from his butt to run his hands through the back of donghyuck’s hair, donghyuck feels as though he’s in heaven, and his head goes fuzzy when mark sucks on the skin around his ear. 

something ignites inside of donghyuck when he can hear mark whispers “fuck” under his breath in response to donghyuck’s hands meeting his nipples under his shirt, and he has a strong desire to tear off all of marks clothes, and kiss him raw, but he wants to take it slow, drag it out, tease the elder. 

“mark” donghyuck breathes out, his head still cocked to the side as the lips attack his skin, most likely leaving purple bruises. he doesn’t care. mark hums in response, a dark, sultry hum. “can I, can I-“

donghyuck feels to shy to actually mutter the words, but he gestures down to marks intimate area with his hand, and makes a cheeky expression on his face. mark understands that donghyuck is asking him if he can give him a blowjob, and his eyes widen, his mouth going dry. 

donghyuck can tell mark is nervous. donghyuck is nervous too. it’s his first time even kissing another guy with so much passion and lust, let alone doing intimate, gay things that require the removal of clothes. 

“or we can take it slow, it’s all up to you” donghyuck reassures him, kissing him on the mouth, and letting his tongue slide over his cupids bow. mark nods, whispering a small, slightly shy “god yes”, and that’s all donghyuck needs before he’s sliding himself down, and pulling down marks baggy bed shorts. 

donghyuck would furthermore be lying if he said he want scared shitless. he wanted to be good, he wanted to make mark feel comfortable, he wanted to make mark feel like he was in heaven, and so that’s what he does. he works his hardest, sucking and licking, using his hands to ignite the loudest, breathiest moans from the boy beneath him. mark is putty in his hands, his legs shaking, his hands pulling at donghyuck’s hair so hard that it makes the younger boy hum onto him. 

he didn’t know he would enjoy the way gagging felt so much, but he can’t get enough of the way mark groans out, and the way mark swears under his breath and grabs a bundle of his hair in his fist, tugging it and pushing his head down further onto his length, making donghyuck choke around him. he can’t get enough until mark pulls himself out and makes a mess on his face. 

“god” mark sighs, his head rolling back on the pillow, donghyuck lays on his lap still, hands around marks thighs “boys do it so much better”

donghyuck laughs at this, and kisses the thighs his elbows are resting on. he can’t ignore the happiness that flutter into his chest, and he can’t get the huge smile of his face. he finds this weird, in the best way. He thinks that if someone had told him, the day mark walked in to buy the lock necklace, that he’d be in his bed with the customer, his hands around his dick, he would’ve laughed into their face. 

— 

“what one do you want?” Donghyuck asks, holding up the two different flavour ice lollies in his hands. mark emerges from the candy isle, and donghyuck smirks at the purple bruise that sits just beneath the collar of his sweatshirt. 

“hyuck, it’s like two degrees outside” mark laughs, raising a freshly plucked (thanks to donghyuck and his whining) eyebrow. donghyuck rolls his eyes, and shakes the lollies in hand. “fine, the strawberry one”

“did you get snacks?” donghyuck asks, putting the chocolate lolly back into the cabinet and pulling out another strawberry one for himself. he wanted the same as mark. “do they sell the chocolate you wanted?”

mark nods, and holds up the small basket of snacks. donghyuck smiles, leaning forward to place a small kiss on his cheek. mark somewhat backs away, his eyes darting all around the shop to make sure no one was watching. this of course makes donghyuck sad, and he can’t help the frown that graces his face. 

“sorry” mark sighs, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“are you embarrassed of me?” donghyuck asks, leaning back against the lolly cabinet that sits in front of the window. “because just five hours ago I had your dick in my mouth and now you don’t even want to touch me”

mark chokes on air, shocked at donghyuck’s obnoxious confidence to say something so rash in public. “I’m not embarrassed of you, babe”

donghyuck has to hold back the smile that wants to break free on his face, babe, it makes him feel funny inside. 

“your just, nervous” donghyuck sighs. he gets it. mark is still shy about being in a relationship with another boy, so he lets it go, despite the sad feeling that sits on his chest. 

after they pay, and exit the store back into the cold of the street, donghyuck so badly wants to reach out and take marks hand, because he knows marks hand is warm, and soft. but the streets are busy, and mark already looks sad, and nervous. so he doesn’t. 

“do you wanna hang out with jeno and jaemin later?” donghyuck asks, letting his shoulder brush against marks. “their having a gathering at jaemin’s dorm, they’ll be a bunch of gay couples there, so you don’t feel uncomfortable”

“why would I feel comfortable? I’m not gay” mark says defensively, stopping in his tracks on the pavement. 

“mar-“

“sorry donghyuck but, I’m not gay, okay?” mark says again, his eyes falling down to the shoes on his feet. donghyuck tuts, and makes a whiny noise of frustration. 

“then why are you with me?” donghyuck says, he doesn’t want to cry. he really doesn’t. but mark has shot him down at least five times since they left the apartment an hour ago, it doesn’t make his chest feel so great. “bisexuality exists, mark”

“leave it, donghyuck” mark sighs, continuing on the path. they have no destination, but they both wanted to leave the house. they walk in silence for a few minutes, an awkward bubble filling the space around them. 

“you can’t kiss me, tell me how much you like me and then say your not into me like that”

“that’s not what I’m saying” mark says, defensively. donghyuck wants to cry, and he watches the cross expression on marks face turn to a soft one, his frown weakening when he sees tears forming in the younger eyes. “I am into you like that, you know that, I just need time to figure myself out, okay?”

marks hand is on his forearm, squeezing it slightly as they walk. donghyuck realises he is being irrational, so he purses his lips together and drops it. mark let’s out a small “wow” when a few droplets of snow start to fall from the sky, and land on the ground beneath them. they stop in unison, watching the snowflakes hit the ground and melt instantly. 

donghyuck thinks mark looks best like this. his hair slightly messy and his face bare, not one drop of makeup on it. with his body engulfed in ripped jeans and a hoodie, which sits over a turtle neck to lock in his warmth. donghyuck loves when marks nose gets red, and how he rubs it to keep it warm. 

“I want to kiss you” donghyuck blurts out, making marks attention snap back to him. mark surprisingly takes a quick look around, and because the streets are empty in this area but one middle schooler walking into the store they just left, mark leans forward to press a kiss on donghyuck’s lips. it only lasts five seconds, but the feeling that erupts from donghyuck’s stomach is enough to keep him satisfied. “thanks”

“hyuck?” mark says, as both boys set off walking again, they silently agree to go down to han river, taking a left down onto a slanted road. donghyuck glances at him, humming for him to continue. “have you told your friends, about us?”

“not yet” donghyuck answers truthfully. it’s only been four days since mark arrived at his apartment with tears running down his face. and since then, donghyuck has barely seen anyone but mark, he called up sick to his two shifts he was meant to work, because he wanted to lavish in this new found relationship. “jaemin and jeno are gonna be excited, though”

mark nods, and he hooks his arm inside of donghyuck’s. it’s a tight squeeze, because donghyuck is layered in his thickest winter coat, the same one he wore when him and mark got coffee for the first time. “how do you like, tell people? I don’t know what to say to people like renjun and jisung, and my family” 

donghyuck smiles slightly, finding the boy hooked onto him the most adorable thing in the world, there are snowflakes falling into his brown hair, and one lands in his eyebrow. 

“you don’t have come out in the way media tells you that you should, mark” he explains, his voice soft and gentle. “just walk into work, or your house one day, and say you have a boyfriend”

mark pauses for a second, and donghyuck realises he just called him self marks boyfriend. they hadn’t really discussed their relationship status as of yet, donghyuck panics, thinking that mark is going to shoot him down again and say that is isn’t at all gay, and that they aren’t boyfriends. 

“you want to be my boyfriend?” mark asks, an eyebrow cutely raised. he has a smile on his face, one that donghyuck can see he’s trying to repress, so to antagonise him further donghyuck leans forward to grab one of his cheeks, pulling at the skin. 

“are you my boyfriend? My boyfriend? Marks got a boyfriend!” donghyuck whines, pulling at the skin on his cheek. mark lets out a mini scream, a smile bright over his face. it’s moments like this donghyuck craved, his lonely soul begging for someone to annoy, someone to be with. 

—

when donghyuck and mark walk into jaemin’s dorm room, hand in hand, donghyuck is met with a “what in the hell?” from both jaemin and his boyfriend. 

luckily, there’s no one else there yet, it’s just jaemin and jeno standing in the small kitchen (the perks of being rich, jaemin says, no shared kitchen!), they were kissing, which makes marks cheeks go red. 

“hi” mark mumbles, donghyuck can feel his hand trembling inside of his. “it’s nice to meet you”

“we met before!” jaemin smiles, and mark nods, remembering back to the awkward encounter back when this whole thing started. “so you guys finally worked things out?”

“what about your girlfriend?” jeno adds, jumping down from the counter where he was sat next to the oven. mark looks to the ground again, he was being bombarded by questions, so donghyuck lightens the mood by being his usual self, he doesn’t want his boyfriend to feel uncomfortable. 

“they broke up!” donghyuck claps. “because I’m too irresistible!” 

mark giggles, and they all make their way to the living room, where there’s bottles of beer sitting on the coffee table, and a book of homework that jaemin hasn’t bothered to put away. they explain the situation to the other couple quickly, and jeno smiles the entire time, donghyuck can tell he’s really happy for him. 

“who else is coming?” donghyuck asks, flopping down onto the couch with mark following suit, his body very close to donghyuck’s, their shoulders bumping. “don’t tell me you invited yuta”

jaemin purses his lips, and whispers “Oops”. donghyuck whines, shaking his legs like a baby. 

“he’s gonna bother us all night!” donghyuck groans, his hand falling against marks knee. “he’s obsessed with mark, he always asks me about him at work, he’s gonna freak when he sees this”

donghyuck motions between the two boys. and jaemin huffs, “thats why I invited taeyong too, he’ll distract him”

“you what?” donghyuck groans again, shaking his legs once more. 

“why is that a problem?” mark asks, resting his head against donghyuck’s shoulder. jaemin cracks open a bottle of beer and hands it to him, which mark takes happily. “isn’t he your friend?”

“he’s my manager!” donghyuck retorts. bumping his shoulder against marks. “how can I drunk make out with you with my rich ass manager watching me?”

“him and yuta made out in front of everyone at the club” mark shrugs. “what’s it like anyway, working at Louis Vuitton?”

mark aims the question towards jaemin, because he already knows how donghyuck feels about working there. they talk about it a lot, when their messy kissing in the kitchen, or holding hands on the couch. 

“I don’t work there anymore” jaemin says, taking a sip of the beer bottle he’s holding. “I worked there for two years, and then I left because I was offered a space at uni and I can truthfully afford to live without a job”

mark nods, “what do you study?”

“photography and film” jaemin replies, their conversation cutting off when there’s a loud knock at the door. jaemin rushes to open it, and donghyuck rolls his eyes when he hears the shrill voice of yuta, and sees taeyong cooly walk into the dorm apartment, his body covered in an expensive leather jacket. 

“is that mark?” yuta gasps, running over to the couch. donghyuck knows it’s gonna be a long night. 


	9. NINE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi ! I hope you are all enjoying this fic so far... there is slight smut at the end of this chapter so if you don’t like that then don’t read the very end! thank you :)

when it hits the first of february, donghyuck finds himself stuck inside of his apartment, unable to go to work because of the weather warning issued due to the snow pouring from the sky. he thinks it’s silly, really, that the snow stops everything. he wanted to go to work, he wanted to see yuta, and chenle and even the new member of the store, jungwoo, but instead he was sitting on his kitchen counter, munching on the burnt pancakes on the plate before him. 

he finds it even sillier that he now can’t see his boyfriend, who is stuck in his own house on the other side of town. since they made it official two months ago the day of jaemin’s party, they haven’t gone more than twenty-four hours without seeing each other, they haven’t gone more than a day without kissing, and donghyuck misses that.

donghyuck smiles to himself as he looks out of the window, because he remembers back to the time him and mark first made love, on New Years eve. him and mark talk about it a lot, it’s one of their funnier memories, because donghyuck couldn’t walk for a day. he smiles when he remembers walking into marks house, hand in hand, and his marks mother engulfing him in a hug, telling him she accepts them no matter what. he gets sad though, missing mark more than anything. 

the reception on his phone is bad too, due to the snow coating the apartment ariel, blocking out most texts and wifi, so he hasn’t been able to send mark any cute selfies of himself, which makes things even worse. 

when the snow finally calms down, two days later, donghyuck is frantically telling mark to come to his apartment, before the snow decides to reappear and keep them trapped for even longer. donghyuck is excited when he sends the message to mark, but when he sees two green ticks, indicating that mark has read the message, but doesn’t get a reply, his stomach hurts. he messages him again; two green ticks, no reply. 

“that’s weird” donghyuck cocks his head to the side. rather than being annoyed his boyfriend isn’t replying, he worries. mark always responses to text messages, no matter what. he taps the phone symbol next to marks contact, only for it to ring once and the line go dead. “did he really just hang up on me?”

donghyuck purses his lips together, thinks for a moment and then panics. what if mark is hurt? what if mark is upset? what if mark is mad at him? his mind spins, and he takes a glance outside to check the snow isn’t back in full force before rushing to grab the fluffy coat from the back of his door and finds himself running out into the street. 

it takes him a while to arrive at marks house, he has to get a bus, which is terminated early because of a large pile of ice on a street, so he has to walk another twenty minutes in the snow. he didn’t brace himself well for the weather, and his hands are bright red despite how hard he coddles them into his pockets. he tries texting mark again, but this time to no green ticks at all. this worries him even further. he doesn’t want to be clingy, or annoying, he knows he can be, but his priority is making sure mark is okay, because he loves him, because it’s dangerous outside. 

when donghyuck finally does reach marks house, he notices that marks parents car isn’t sitting on his drive way like usual, but the lights to marks cozy living room is on, meaning that mark has to be home, or his brother, donghyuck hoped it was mark, where else could he be? the skate shop was closed due to the weather, and his friends were all probably stuck at home as well. donghyuck feels lucky he was able to even catch a bus here at all. 

he reaches a red hand to the door, and knocks softly. no one answers. he knocks again, harder this time to make his presence known, and he can finally hear shuffling behind the door, and can see the hallway light flicker on through the glass panel that sits above the door frame. 

mark answers it, his face tired, and his hair brushed down so donghyuck can just about see his eyebrows. donghyuck breathes a sigh of relief, and steps forward to wrap his arms around the older boy, squeezing his body against his. mark is warm, and he smells like the perfume donghyuck had gifted him. though, donghyuck notices marks body stiffen, and a worried expression grace his face. 

“what are you doing here?” mark says, pulling away from the hug awkwardly. his eyes keep glancing to where the entrance of the living room is, and donghyuck can instantly pick up on his awkward body language. 

“you aren’t excited to see your boyfriend?” donghyuck pouts, poking marks sides in his usual fashion, mark laughs awkwardly, and takes his hand softly before pulling it away. 

“how did you even get here, you look freezing, hyuck” mark sighs, scratching the back of his neck. donghyuck frowns, normally when donghyuck knocks on marks door, he’ll jump up and down and press kisses all over his face. why was he acting so differently today?

“I’m freezing, for sure” donghyuck laughs, trying to lighten the mood. but mark barely smiles. “you aren’t gonna invite me in?”

“i think you should go home, hyuck” mark says, his voice low. he can barely make eye contact with donghyuck, and donghyuck hates the pit of sadness that sits in his stomach. “I have something going on”

“I’m your boyfriend mark, I can help you if your sad?” donghyuck tilts his head, stepping forward to grab one of marks hands. he wants to speak again, but his action is cut short by another voice. 

“mark whose at the door?” donghyuck has to blink, he has to blink five times because he can’t process what his eyes are witnessing. “oh”

yeeun.

donghyuck wants to be sick. 

she walks around the living room entrance, her body covered in the pink hoodie, marks pink hoodie. it makes donghyuck dizzy. he doesn’t want to believe it, he doesn’t want to believe that marks ex girlfriend is at his house, and not him. 

marks eyes widen, and his hands drop from donghyuck’s touch. “what the fuck is she doing here, mark?”

“hyuck, I can explain” mark tries to talk, but the sob that escapes donghyuck’s throat does the talking for him. donghyuck can see a smirk grace yeeun’s face, and he has to hold back each and every fibre of his being to not reach forward and punch her in the face. donghyuck doesn’t care that the snow is falling, and his lips are turning blue, he doesn’t care because he can’t feel anything, but betrayal. 

“hyuck, I swear-“

“just fuck off” donghyuck growls, stepping back out into the full force of the snow. “this is why you couldn’t reply to me? because you were too busy fucking your ex-girlfriend? I’ve been worried sick about you, mark!”

mark has tears brimming in his eyes too, his face crumbling. but donghyuck doesn’t care like he usually does, he doesn’t reach forward to comfort him, instead he turns on his heels, and runs into the snow. mark doesn’t chase him, which makes him feel even worse. 

donghyuck finds out that there’s no buses for three hours, due to the incoming snow, so he finds himself sitting on the edge of a park, his hands wrapped around himself, crying into his knees. he felt sick, he wanted to disappear. 

he didn’t understand it, mark had seemed so happy with him the past two months, holding hands in public, kissing him into the early hours of the night. why did mark want to see yeeun? why did mark want to ruin everything?

he can feel his tears freezing over, and he knows he can’t sit in the snow anymore. he has to go home, he has to go pull himself together and the first name to call that pops into his head is one he doesn’t want to call. 

he cries harder when he sees he has ten missed calls from mark. he doesn’t call back, instead his finger lingers over yuta’s name, and calls it. 

“donghyuckkkkie!” the voice is loud, happy, excited, and when donghyuck sobs into his phone, his hands trembling, yuta’s voice changes. “are you okay?”

“yuta” donghyuck sobs. “is there anyway you can pick me up?”

—

it takes yuta a while to get there, he explains he couldn’t drive over twenty miles per hour due to the snow. donghyuck doesn’t care, he climbs into the warmth of the car, limbs trembling and eyes frozen with tears. yuta doesn’t ask many questions, he turns the heating on full and let’s donghyuck cry until they reach yuta’s penthouse apartment. 

yuta puts him by the fire, and donghyuck doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that taeyong is sitting on yuta’s couch looking the most casual donghyuck has ever seen him. it takes him an hour to stop crying, and he has to turn his phone of to stop the calls from mark coming through. 

“do you want a tea?” yuta asks, his voice soft. donghyuck shakes his head no. “hot chocolate? I have the galaxy one you like?”

donghyuck shakes his head again. “do you wanna talk about anything, what happened?”

donghyuck sighs, his chest trembling. he doesn’t like being like this, so weak and small. but he gave his everything to mark, and it feels like it’s been pulled away, ripped apart by one girl, one boy, and his lies. he wonders how long he’s been seeing her, texting her, wishing that donghyuck was her. 

“I went to see mark and yeeun was there” donghyuck whispers, his eyes focusing on his fingers. he wishes he was playing with marks fingers, like he usually does. “so I ran away, but he didn’t come after me”

“what an asshole!” taeyong huffs, crossing his arms from where he’s sat. yuta sits next to him, passing taeyong a cup of coffee. donghyuck doesn’t know if taeyong and yuta are official yet, but he doesn’t have the stomach to ask right now. “did he say why she was there?”

“no” donghyuck shakes his head. “but what other reason than he wants to get his dick wet?”

“I mean, why would he if you guys are dating? He could’ve just called you?” yuta adds, tucking his legs under himself. “it doesn’t make much sense”

“it does” donghyuck shrugs, a single tear rolling down his cheek. “maybe he loves her more than me”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you when he picks you up from work, and the way he kissed you at the New Years party” taeyong tuts. “and the way you guys had sex in the bathroom”

donghyuck groans at the thought of his manager hearing him have sex. but it also makes him laugh, for a moment at least. 

“what taeyong is trying to say, is that it’s obvious he loves you, it always has been” donghyuck nods at this, he knows mark loves him, he just feels slightly defeated after seeing yeeun smirking, wearing marks hoodie, the hoodie donghyuck usually steals from his wardrobe. 

“can I sleep here tonight?” donghyuck’s asks, peeking out of the window to watch the snow down faster than before. “i don’t want to go home, even if I could”

“that’s fine” yuta smiles, sending donghyuck a small thumbs up. “you should probably call mark though, and try and get the full picture before you act rationally”. 

donghyuck knows that he’s right, even if he doesn’t want him to be. 

“thank you, yuta” donghyuck smiles, briefly, before yuta’s phone starts ringing. he suddenly remembers when donghyuck gave mark yuta’s number a few weeks ago, because his was on low battery before work, and his chest stops. 

“it’s mark” yuta says, his eyes widening as he stares down at the screen. “shall I answer it?”

donghyuck pouts, but nods his head anyway. he was mad at mark, but he still worried about him. yuta answers the phone, and puts it on loud speaker. “hello?”

“yuta? is mark with you?” donghyuck could hear the desperation in his voice, and it almost sounded like he was crying. “I’m worried about him, he ran away in the snow.”

“he’s fine, mark” yuta’s voice was somewhat reluctant, a little mad. “he’s a little upset, I’m not sure why, I assume it’s because of you”

donghyuck sniggers at yuta’s blatant lie, and the passive aggressive tune that rings through his voice. “can you tell him to turn his phone on? I need to talk to him, or I’ll walk to your apartment myself”

yuta sighs, yet agrees before turning the phone off with a small goodbye, before mark can respond. taeyong sits awkwardly, not really sure what to make of the situation. “you should talk to him, I don’t wanna see you sad anymore”

donghyuck smiles, and nods, before walking out of the room, into yuta’s spare bedroom, he’s reluctant to call mark, but he wants to sort this out, despite the anger that sits in his chest. 

—

two days pass, and donghyuck still hasn’t seen mark. they didn’t sort much out on the phone a few days ago, because they just cried, and mark kept repeating that he loved him, but didn’t fully explain why yeeun was in his house, he doesn’t know if this is because mark has something to hide, or because he doesn’t want to say it over the phone. 

it’s still early in the morning, and the store is still closed due to the snow. there’s no buses running today, and donghyuck has made sure his fridge is stocked with ice coffee and sweet treats to get him through his lonely day, he craves someone, mark specifically. he misses marks warm hugs, the way he tickles his hips to annoy him, and his movie recommendations. 

donghyuck is about to take a shower when there’s a knock at the door, he honestly doesn’t get why he has a doorbell on the door in the first place, because no one seems to use it. the knock confuses him, because the snow is falling outside and people can’t travel, he assumes it’s his neighbour taeil asking to borrow something, or the landlord doing a routine check due to the snow. 

but it was either of these people, it was mark, leaning against the door frame, his body buried underneath a hoodie, coat and his brown hair flattened by a beanie. one that looked old, because there is tuffs of his hair poking through a hole in the side. 

donghyuck’s body somewhat shudders at the sight of him. two days of not seeing marks face has made him nervous, and the fact they haven’t really resolved anything makes the situation worse. he really wants to reach out and take marks hands, bring his shivering body into the warmth of his apartment and cover his face in hard, brutal kisses, but he doesn’t know there boundaries since their fight, so instead he steps aside and softly drags the other in by his arm, he can feel mark shivering beneath his touch. 

“how the hell did you get here?” donghyuck asks, staring concerned at mark, whose face was red and cold. luckily his apartment heating was warming him up. “did you fly? it’s awful outside, mark!”

“I walked here” mark says awkwardly, a small laugh suppressing his blue lips. “I couldn’t go any longer without seeing you, I want to apologise”

donghyuck rolls his eyes to be a brat, but he can’t help the thump in his chest. did mark really walk over an hour in weather-warned snow just to see him in person? 

donghyuck doesn’t reply, instead he walks towards the couch, pulling mark in tow until they sit, mark is sitting on the L-shape, so that he’s facing donghyuck, he’s still buried underneath his clothes, so donghyuck throws one of his fluffy blankets that hangs over the arm of the couch, and mumbles for him to put it on. 

“I just want to explain it, why she was in my house” donghyuck gulps, but nods for mark to continue, even the thought of yeeun being in marks house makes him sick. “her family are still close to mine, seeing as they’ve known each other for years”

mark scoots over so he’s closer to donghyuck, and silently wraps a hand around the others. donghyuck shudders at his touch, his hands feel like ice. 

“her family came over to see mine, but I hid out in my room to avoid her. I didn’t know my family had drove hers over to the store to pick up some supplies before the snow came, but they left her in the living room”

donghyuck nods. it does make sense somehow, he remembers mark texting him last month about how awkward he felt due to yeeun’s mother coming over to each lunch with them. “that makes sense”

“but they got stuck at the supermarket due to the snow, and when I came down to check where everyone was, she was there sitting on my couch”

“why was she wearing your hoodie?” donghyuck’s voice is small, his eyes staring intently at mark who pouts. “that’s my favourite hoodie”

“she had found it hanging over the banister of the stairs, I told her to remove it, but she didn’t. so we argued for a while in the living room” mark seemed genuine, and donghyuck knew deep down mark would never lie to him. mark hasn’t lied to him once, and he always tells him the truth about everything. 

“and why were you ignoring my texts?”

mark presses a kiss to donghyuck’s cheek. “awkwardness, guilt that she was even in my house in the first place? I don’t know. I’m a fool, I’m sorry” 

donghyuck nods, the lump in his throat repressing. he believes his boyfriend, of course he does. he leans forward to press a warm kiss on his mouth, breathing a sigh of content. he missed this. even after such a short amount of time, he missed this. 

“I’m sorry” mark says again, his fingers sliding beneath donghyuck’s tshirt. he kisses donghyuck again, his lips cold and shaky. “I love you”

“you really do?” donghyuck asks, leaning back to stare at the boy who is gleaming at him. he knows mark said that he loved him on the phone, but hearing it in person really made his chest feel warm. 

“of course” mark replies, using his arms to flip donghyuck down under him. donghyuck can’t tell if this was an invitation for a tickle fight or for sex, but he’d be up for any right now. mark tickles his hips, kissing down on his forehead playfully. “so much!”

“I love you” donghyuck whispers between gulps of air he gasps through the tickles. “but never walk to my house in the cold again! you’re gonna get sick, which means I’m gonna get sick”

“good” mark laughs, digging his fingers further into donghyuck’s skin. “we can look after eachother then”

donghyuck manages to wriggle his way free from the evil clutches of marks hands, kicking him slightly with his feet. suddenly it feels like everything is right again, and he feels guilty for being mad at mark in the first place. 

not even an hour later, donghyuck finds himself sitting on marks thighs, his lips pressing kisses all over the older boys neck. he can feel a hard on in his underwear, and he feel feel marks as well. mark is running hands over donghyuck’s topless chest. 

“you’re so fucking hot” mark groans, licking the side of donghyuck’s neck just to hear the purr omit from his lips. mark unbuttons the buckle on donghyuck’s jeans, and donghyuck automatically moves his legs so that mark can pull his jeans down to his thighs. donghyuck feels shy, being naked in front of mark, but the small “fuck” that comes from his lips makes him feel comfortable, and he melts into the touch of the older boy. 

“I love you” donghyuck says, as mark takes his length in his hand, rubbing his thumb over him. “I love you so much”

mark hums, a smirk coming over this lips. he quickens the pace of his hand, clearly loving the way donghyuck’s body trembles, and how donghyuck falls down onto his chest, his hand on his shoulder. “cute”

“don’t call me cute when you have my dick in your hand” donghyuck laughs against his neck, but it’s cut off when mark squeezes him teasingly in his hand. 

it doesn’t take long for him to finish, his breath loud and groaning against marks skin. his body trembles, but mark loves it, mark kisses him softly, and pulls his chest against his own, kissing his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment and kudos! <3


	10. TEN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is the last chapter........

_one year later. _

when donghyuck’s birthday arrives, he’s unsure of what to expect. will taeyong throw him a lavish party and give him three one hundred dollar bills in a card like usual or will mark spend the entire day in his house smothering him with kisses? he was unsure, but he was excited. 

it’s his second birthday with mark now, last year, mark had baked him a cake. it tasted awful, because mark had accidentally put in a hundred grams of yeast rather than ten, but donghyuck still forced it down with a smile. mark had also brought him a silver watch, one that donghyuck had pointed out he liked a few months prior in a shop window. 

“happy birthday” donghyuck’s thoughts are interrupted by the body moving next to him in the bed. mark flips over, throwing a humid arm over donghyuck’s bare waist, and resting his head against his chest. “happy, happy, happy birthday old man”

donghyuck smiles, his hands automatically finding there hands to marks hair, which was now a jet black colour. donghyuck had decided in the winter that mark would look like Harry Potter if mark dyed his hair, of course mark rejected his theory, so they dyed it to find out. donghyuck was right in the end. 

“thank you” donghyuck’s hands twindle in marks hair, fingers curling around the waves that bounce against his fingers. “what’s my present?”

donghyuck’s voice was in a singsong tune, he was only playing, he didn’t expected a present right there and then from mark, in fact he wouldn’t even care if mark got him nothing, because mark being his boyfriend was enough in itself. 

“ill give it to you later, after dinner” mark smiles, kissing the chest he’s laying on. donghyuck can feel his eyelashes fluttering against his skin, he loves that feeling, he’s gotten used to it. “but I have a present for you right now”

just from marks tone, he knew what he was talking about. it was obvious, and if it wasn’t, the hand that was trailing down his torso and landing above his heat in his shorts, was. 

“mark” donghyuck is already breathless, but he can’t talk before mark is kissing him, softly and warmly, with so much love hidden between his lips. 

“I got you” mark whispers, lips trailing against his jawline, then his neck and chest. donghyuck was embarrassed at how fast mark would make him hard, and how loud he groans out when mark puts a hand beneath his shorts and uses it to rub him. “so good”

donghyuck let’s mark attack his lips with kisses, he falls slack against the bed whenever his boyfriend touches him like this, he loves it, he craves it, he submits to it. 

before donghyuck could really even process anything, the bed is hitting the wall, hard and fast, and donghyuck gets even more turned on by the sound of marks skin slapping against his. he can barely breath, his face buried into the velvet pillow, mark is slapping his ass, in time with his thrusts. he feels like he’s going to pass out. He knows this is going to be the best birthday yet. 

—

donghyuck was right about taeyong gifting him money, but taeyong also gave him an over-expensive wallet from the brand off-white. and what makes it even more amusing is that he also gives a matching one to mark, because he “felt like he just needed one” 

“I really can’t except this, taeyong” mark is gaping, holding the wallet in his hands. even though mark was receiving more money with his new job, mark still hated buying and accepted expensive things, despite donghyuck being the biggest lover of all things branded and expensive. 

“yeah, it’s my birthday not his” donghyuck jokes, earning an elbow in the ribs from his boyfriend who sits next to him at the dining table. 

taeyong simply shrugs, “just take it, i felt when I was buying donghyuck’s it was too cheap anyway, so I got two to take the price up” 

he was obviously kidding, but yuta, or in other words; taeyongs newly engaged fiancé, scoffs in the back of his throat, leaning over the dining room table to slap his fiancé on the chest. it was a funny story, how taeyongs manager and co-worker got engaged, taeyong simply asked him to marry him while yuta had his dick in his mouth, despite never actually calling the japanese boy his boyfriend. 

“thank you” mark says quietly, putting the wallet back into the box. “thank you for the dinner, too”

donghyuck hums in agreement, leaning back on his chair to hold his belly which was full of tomato pasta. taeyong was an amazing cook, unlike him, and unlike mark, hence why they use pizza delivery everyday to eat. 

“what are you guys doing for the rest of the day?” yuta asks, as taeyong takes the plates into the open kitchen. taeyongs new house was big, the biggest one in this district of seoul, and it was totally his style. simple with cute details, such as a modern black table with kitten printed table cloths. “birthday sex soon, I assume?”

“already done it” donghyuck remarks, earning an embarrassed whine from mark next to him. he laughs at the way marks cheeks turn red, and at the way he kicks him under the table. “but if mark has the stamina, birthday sex can be repeated later on when we get home” 

“love that” yuta holds his hand up to high five mark, but is met with marks middle finger. “has jaemin given you a preset yet?

donghyuck nods, holding up his arm to show the silver bracelet hanging on his wrist. “him and jeno came over earlier, they waited outside for twenty minutes because they could hear us having sex though, so it was uncomfortable for everyone”

yuta scrunches up his nose, fake gagging, but donghyuck knew the other enjoyed these types of conversations. raw, no filter, laugh inducing conversations. that’s why he found a new love for hanging out with yuta in the past four months. 

“how’s the music coming along, mark?” yuta asks, since mark graduated university, he decided to leave the skate shop and join a producing site. “did that band buy that song in the end?”

“they did! they really liked it.” mark smiles, his ears turning red. “it’s going great, this is the fourth song that’s been successful in the past few months”

“you were made to make music! I’ve said his ever since you made that song for me and taeyong” 

“I’m happy for you mark, and hyuck you’re so old now” taeyong butts in, walking back to ur table to take the last few plates. he wouldn’t let yuta help him clean no matter how many times he insisted. “I employed you when you were a baby” 

“I’m old?” donghyuck screeches, holding a hand of fake hurt to his chest. “I’m not the one who is engaged!”

“maybe you will be soon” yuta winks, directing his comment at mark, whose cheeks light up a bright shade of pink. donghyuck loves when mark gets shy, embarrassed. he thinks he looks absolutely adorable. “I’m kidding. don’t do that”

“maybe in the future” mark laughs, letting his head fall onto donghyucks shoulder. “shall we get going soon?”

donghyuck nods, and they spend the next hour laughing and joking with yuta and taeyong, before exiting the house into the summer sun. 

donghyuck holds marks hand proudly, and lets his fingers run over his thumb. donghyuck loved moments like this, when marks skin shone under the sunlight, and his pale legs and arms are on show. donghyuck’s loves moments where mark looks happy, and the dazed smile that rests on his face makes donghyuck feel fuzzy. he feels lucky. 

—

they stop for a coffee, in the place they went on their ‘first date’. mark hooks his leg around donghyuck’s like usual, and donghyuck finds their hands meeting in the middle of the table. they talk about the old times, and mark tells donghyuck about how he fell in love the first time they entered the cafe together. mark tells him that every night since the first day they met in the Louis Vuitton store, he dreamt of donghyuck every night. 

donghyuck cries, and tells mark how much he loves him. mark cries a little too, and takes donghyuck’s hand and leads him home, into the comfort of their now shared apartment, falling down onto the couch like usual, their limbs tangled and bodies slack against each one another. 

“have you had a good birthday so far?” mark asks, taking donghyuck’s hand in his own. “sorry we can’t do anything more extravagant”

“trust me, this morning was extravagant enough” donghyuck winks, teasing mark about their intimate moment earlier. these things still make mark shy. “but really, mark, this is one of my best birthdays yet” 

“really?” mark raises an eyebrow, a usual smile gracing his pale face. “you aren’t bored?”

donghyuck scoffs, placing a chaste kiss to marks lips. “spending a day with you isn’t boring, mark, this is my ideal type of day, night, month, year” 

mark kisses him again. “okay, that’s good”

“I love you” donghyuck smiles, a hand falling through marks dark hair. “so much”

“let me go get one of your presents” mark says, jumping up from the couch leaving donghyuck’s side bare, making him whine. “I’ll be back in five seconds, hyuck!”

he does return within five seconds. he’s holding a box in his hand, with a light blue ribbon around it. donghyuck claps his hands excitedly, and takes the box as mark sits down beside him. donghyuck would be a liar if he said he didn’t love presents. 

“it’s not much, I would buy you the world if I could” mark is nervous, shy almost. “but I’m sure you’ll like it”

donghyuck pouts happily, and starts to unwrap the box. it’s a shoe box, donghyuck is happy with that, he needs a new pair of shoes. and these were the ones he had pointed out while shopping with mark a few months ago, a white pair of Nike trainers, simple, but needed. mark was smart, he thought. 

but when he opens the box, the shoes are covered by a small CD case, which reads ‘for my love’ on top of it. donghhuck wants to cry, he knows what it is. a mixtape of some sort, he’s been dreaming since a child of someone doing something like this. 

“you made me a cd?” donghyuck has tears in his eyes, staring at mark intently. “you did?”

mark nods, reaching forward to wipe the underneath of donghyuck’s eyes. “yes, there’s a surprise though, go put it in the CD player”. 

donghyuck sniffs and obliges, going towards the tv stand where the CD player sits beneath. he puts it in, and turns the volume to full with a slight shake in his hands, he doesn’t know why he’s so nervous. 

“what song is this?” donghyuck cocks his head to the side as he walks towards mark, sitting next to him once again. the song is a soft guitar tune, with nothing more than a simple melody and chords, he can’t recognise the song, but when the voice on the track starts playing, he cracks, falling into marks chest with tears on his cheeks. 

“that’s you?” donghyuck sniffs, and mark laughs shyly, but nods his head. “you sang me a song?” 

“I’ve been making it for ages, babe” mark runs his hands in donghyuck’s dark grey hair. “I wrote five songs just for you, they aren’t amazing, but I know you’ll love them”

the lyrics are sweet, cringe worthy and sappy it makes donghyuck’s insides burn with happiness. it talks about how much mark loves him, and how his life has changed since falling in love with the other boy. 

“fuck mark, how can I beat this for your birthday!” donghyuck groans, melting into marks touch. he is warm, and he smells like apples. he always smells like apples. “i love you”

“I have another gift,” mark says, still stroking he mop of hair on his chest. “its kinda a touchy subject, but it doesn’t have to be”

“what do you mean?” donghyuck hums, still listening to the soft sound of his boyfriend radiating from the CD player. “Did you buy me a hamster?”

mark stands up, carefully moving donghyuck out of the way. he laughs, thinking about marks birthday last year where jaemin brought him a pet hamster, but within two days it had gone rouge, disappearing from the apartment. he motions that he’ll be one second, but he takes longer than before. after five minutes, donghyuck becomes inpatient, and calls marks name, which echoes through the halls. 

“sorry” mark pouts, walking back into the front room, his hands are behind his back, hiding what ever is behind. “I got nervous”

mark sits down, still hiding what’s behind him. he kisses donghyuck quickly on the lips, causing both of them to smirk, before sighing nervously. 

“what is it mark?” donghyuck raises and eyebrow. mark was acting suspicious, and donghyuck found it’s easy to tell when he was being shady, because his hands start to shake. “are you really proposing to me right now!”

donghyuck was kidding, and mark laughs, scrunching his nose. “not yet, babe”

“babe” donghyuck mimics him playfully, and grabs his shoulders. “what are you hiding.”

“okay here” mark pulls his arms around, holding a familiar box. a small box, covered in white paper with the Louis Vuitton logo covering it. 

“you brought me something from LV?” donghyuck raises an eyebrow, confused. “I work there, I could’ve got it half off!”

“just open it, idiot” mark hits his knee against donghyuck’s, so donghyuck obliges. he unwraps it’s carefully, and opens up the brown coloured box, for his to be met with something that stabs his chest. 

the lock necklace. 

“why did you buy this?” donghyuck gasps, a flood of emotions and memories impending his brain, they circle around, imagines of when he first met mark and yeeun. it hurts for a second. 

“i didn’t buy it recently” mark shakes his head. “It’s the one I brought from you the day we met”

donghyuck’s hands are trembling slightly. he doesn’t know if this is a good thing, that mark has taken the necklace back from his ex-girlfriend to give to him. 

“why did you take this back from yeeun?” donghyuck asks carefully, setting the box onto his lap. “I don’t understand”

mark places a hand on donghyuck’s crossed legs. “I never gave it to her in the first place hyuck”

“you didn’t? but you told me you did” donghyuck frowns. he was confused, the necklace brought memories and nightmares, it reminds him of the girl that nearly tore their relationship in half, the girl that prevented him from falling for mark in the first place. but it also brang him joy, because all he can imagine is marks little feet pattering across the marble floor to meet him for the first time. 

“I never gave it to her because by the time her birthday came, I realised it didn’t remind me of her, it reminded me of you” mark explains, it makes sense. “I didn’t want to see it around her neck and think that it should be around yours”

donghyuck nods, and he feels his eyes watering again. he wants to speak but no words are formed, so mark talks again. “to me, this necklace represents how strong you were, during that time, it must have been hard for you to think I was loving someone else”

“it was hard” donghyuck chuckles slightly. but it really does make sense, how the necklace represents them in every way. 

“I don’t expect you to wear it, or anything” mark holds his hands up with a smile on his face. “but it’s just, a memory, a motif, of us I guess”

“I’ll keep it forever” donghyuck tells him. leaning forward to kiss mark on the mouth softly, he then quickly ties the necklace around his neck, letting it fall onto his chest. “I love you, mark”

“I love you too” mark replies into his lips. “and thanks to that necklace, I’ll love you _forever_”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna thank everyone for reading this story. it’s not my favourite but I tried so hard to make it great so I appreciate any comments and kudos!!! I’m also going to be posting new NCT fics very very very soon so please keep your eyes peeled.... thank you!!
> 
> also please check out my friend Sarah’s first fanfic on the user iloveyoulikethis because we all need a bit of tattoo artist mark in our lives 
> 
> <3


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